An Olympic dream location looks different. Although the Olympic courses at the foot of Sugar Loaf Mountain and the Christ the Redeemer statue have an impressive backdrop on land, the water quality remains a cause for concern. Germany's 2015 Sailor of the Year Heiko Kröger documents this in the current training session before Rio de Janeiro by simply holding his camera on the surface of the water for a few minutes and letting it run with him.
Kröger's interim assessment: "We are training extremely efficiently and have gained a lot of important insights. Unfortunately, we also realised that the waste problem is and remains omnipresent. Fortunately, we are still healthy. Mosquitoes don't seem to be a problem in our corner. It's over 30 degrees and very humid. Even at night. We'll be here until Sunday. Let's see what else comes in front of the camera." Kröger commented on his video recordings not without sarcasm: "Unfortunately or fortunately, there is no video with odour. So please unscrew the odour trap under your sink and sniff while watching the video."
The 2.4mR helmsmen Heiko Kröger and Lasse Klötzing are on site with their coaches Bernd Zirkelbach and Oliver Freiheit to prepare in Guanabara Bay for the Paralympic regatta in late summer, in which Kröger will once again start for Audi Sailing Team Germany as Paralympics winner of 2000 with the aim of winning a medal. Like the Olympic crews, the Paralympic crews will also be sailing for medals in Guanabara Bay. The area is considered to be extremely polluted with sewage, hazardous to health and poses further challenges for the sailors with a high volume of floating rubbish.
The German Paralympic sailors are currently training off Rio de Janeiro. Vice world champion Heiko Kröger documented everything that swims towards them by simply pointing his camera at it while sailing. A dream sailing area looks different.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
