Brushing aside concerns about the safety of swimming in the River Seine, Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands used a late pass to win the women’s 10km open water swim at the Paris Olympics.
PARIS– Brushing aside concerns about the safety of swimming in the River Seine, Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands used a late pass to win the women’s 10km open water swim at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
After Australia’s Moesha Johnson led most of the way, van Rouwendaal cut through the Seine’s strong current as the leading group rounded the bridge’s final support. Johnson stayed closer to shore, allowing the 30-year-old Dutch swimmer to win gold.
Van Rouwendaal reached the final goal in 2 hours and 3:34 seconds, while Johnson settled for silver in 2:03:39.7. The bronze went to Ginevra Taddeucci of Italy, the only other swimmer to finish in 2:03:42.8.
With a picturesque setting that no other city can offer – the Eiffel Tower looming over the course, the gold-domed Invalides a few blocks away, the statue-filled Pont Alexander III overlooking the starting buoy and finishing ramp – van Rouwendaal added to her legacy as perhaps the greatest female open water swimmer in history.
She won gold at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016 and silver in Tokyo three years ago.
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