Olympic Sailing Boat Damaged By Garbage During Practice In Rio's Guanabara Bay

An Austrian boat "was damaged by garbage as it practiced for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay," where a member of the sailing team said that "he saw a dead dog floating in the water," according to Tariq Panja of BLOOMBERG. Nico Delle Karth, a 49er-class sailor who is training for his fourth Olympics with partner Nikolaus Resch, said, "We saw a dead dog and destroyed our center board because of some strange plastic piece we hit." Sailors have said that the Olympic venue "smells like a toilet because of the raw sewage and trash that flow into Guanabara Bay on a daily basis." Event organizers have promised that water quality "will meet international standards for the Olympics" (BLOOMBERG, 7/29).