It’s not the most pleasant prospect for Olympic triathletes – the water in Tokyo Bay where they will swim seems to stink terribly. Despite the fact that locals and organizers have been working very hard for months to get the water clean – or at least cleaner – things haven’t changed yet.
This means that the triathletes competing for Olympic medals won’t only have to swim in extremely hot water (around 31 degrees), but also in polluted and smelly water.
In 2019 the swim for a Paralympic triathlon was cancelled because E. coli bacteria levels were too high in the water of Tokyo Bay. Even then, athletes were talking about water that stank like you were standing on a soiled toilet. From that moment on, drastic measures were taken to clean the water as quickly as possible. Among other things, 22,000 cubic meters of sand were dumped into the bay to create an underwater environment where various organisms could contribute to cleaning the water.
In recent weeks, however, locals have again been complaining about a huge stench from Tokyo Bay.
