European 49er champion Erik Heil has not been celebrating the bronze medal he won with his co-skipper Thomas Plößel after the successful test regatta in Rio de Janeiro's Olympic waters, but has been suffering instead. The Berliner returned from Brazil with inflammation in his legs and hips. The largest inflammation, about eight centimetres long, was cut out in a Berlin hospital on Tuesday, causing him great pain. It is not possible to anaesthetise such foci of inflammation. Heil refused the alternative morphine injection to relieve the pain. The doctors prescribed the athlete a broad-spectrum antibiotic. He now swallows four tablets a day and hopes for improvement. The helmsman from the North German Regatta Club is not allowed to train for the time being and is waiting for the results of the laboratory analysis of his blood values.
Heil is the first sailor from the German national team to suffer from a bacterial infection with frightening consequences after competing in the controversial Olympic area. Sailing Team Germany elite sailor Heil told YACHT online: "I've never had inflammation on my legs in my life. Never before! I assume that I got it during the test regatta. The culprit is probably the Marina da Gloria, into which, among other things, the waste water from the city hospital flows unchecked." Heil's doctors also harbour this suspicion. According to the doctors, the bacteria and germs that have long been proven in independent tests and that make Rio's waters a risk area due to their dangerous concentrations can enter the body through even the smallest hairline cracks in the skin. "Everything points to the Marina da Gloria as the source. Among other things, the waste water from the municipal hospital flows into it. I can only hope," says Heil, "that I haven't caught one of these multi-resistant things. They can really take you apart."
The Olympic area has been in the crossfire of criticism for months. Most recently, the new Isaf manager Peter Sowrey said in an interview with the American news agency AP: "If we can't bring the water to an acceptable level, then we will move (the regatta) outside (to the Atlantic) - that's for sure." Sowrey went on to say, "We are not happy as an association with the reports about the area. We are not getting the reports we expected."
The polluted waters have once again come under fire following an independent investigation by AP and environmental experts in July. The results of the investigations were alarming, showing a dangerously high concentration of viruses and germs from human sewage and describing the coastal waters as a cesspit rather than a beautiful sailing area that is unrivalled in terms of appearance and sport. "If we can't get this clean," says Sowrey, "then we have to do something."
Editor's update from 27 August, 1 p.m.: Doctors at Berlin's Charité hospital have now confirmed that Heil's infection was caused by a multi-resistant germ. The exact results of the laboratory analysis will not be available until next week.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
