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Copacabana to host open water Olympic test event

Xinhua, August 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Rio de Janeiro's iconic Copacabana beach will be the scene of the eighth Rio 2016 test event when the world's leading open water swimmers tackle the Olympic marathon swimming course on Saturday and Sunday.

A team of 150 workers will be deployed at the Fort Copacabana venue, where 25 men and 25 women are scheduled to compete, according to Rio2016.com.

"This test event is equally important for the athletes and the organizing committee," said Christiane Fanzeres, Rio 2016's marathon swimming competition manager.

"For the swimmers, it is an opportunity to become familiarized with the route. For the committee, it will be a test of various operations, including the security, communications and field of play areas... and all this in a event that takes completely in the sea, which makes our sport different."

Marathon swimming will be the third test event to be staged at Copacabana, after triathlon and road cycling.

"Our operations evolve with each test event," said Copacabana venues manager Bernardo Villano.

"Each competition poses different challenges and we have to adapt to these, but up to know everything has gone very well. Our challenge this time is to run a competition that happens 100 per cent in the water." Endi