Thirteen of 40 U.S. junior rowers at a 2016 Olympics test event in Rio de Janeiro contracted a stomach bug this week, . The rowing competition was held at the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, one of the water venues where the of viruses last July.
Teams adopted strategies to avoid contamination聽due to concerns about pollution in the lake. 鈥淎s soon as kids started going down, we were bleaching oar handles, we were immediately washing hands after coming off the water,鈥澛燯.S. coach and two-time gold medalist Susan Francia told the AP. 鈥淥ther countries didn鈥檛 allow water bottles at all. Other countries had water bottles in zip-locked bags.鈥
While it鈥檚 impossible to pinpoint the source of the sickness with certainty, the team鈥檚 doctor, Kathryn Ackerman, said she suspected the rowers聽contracted the bug on the water, despite the precautions in place.聽
鈥淲e鈥檙e not really sure,鈥 she told the AP. 鈥淢y personal feeling is聽I think it鈥檚 from the lake.鈥