Marathon swimmer Chelsea Gubecka is the first athlete named to Australia’s squad for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Key factors:
- Chelsea Gubecka will compete within the 10km marathon swim in Paris after ending third at August’s World Championships
- Open water swimming on the Paris Olympics will happen within the River Seine by way of the center of the town
- An August check occasion was cancelled due to excessive ranges of pollution within the water
The Rio 2016 Olympian was named to her second Olympic squad following her silver medal successful efficiency on the world championships earlier this yr in Fukuoka.
It was that efficiency that earned Gubecka an automated qualifying spot for Paris, with different spots nonetheless out there to be earned through the 2024 World Championships in February.
The 25-year-old, who trains beneath Kate Sparkes at Yeronga Park Pool in Brisbane, was thrilled to be the first Australian athlete named to the squad.
“It doesn’t feel real at all. To be the first athlete selected is such an honour,” Gubecka stated.
“To go to one Olympics is special but to be a dual Olympian is unbelievable.
“I used to be solely 17 after I made my first Games so I in all probability did not soak within the expertise as a lot as I ought to have, however that is actually particular.
“To get the call that I was officially selected as the first athlete for Paris just gave me goosebumps.”
Gubecka is the first Australian to be named to an Olympics in Paris in a century, with the French capital internet hosting the Games for the first time since 1924 and third time total.
As nicely as silver within the particular person 10km race, Gubecka was a part of the blended 4x1500m open water relay workforce that received bronze in Fukuoka alongside Moesha Johnson, Nicholas Sloman and Kyle Lee.
Australia completed second on the medal desk on the Tokyo Games in swimming, successful 9 golds, three silvers and 9 bronzes within the pool and open water occasions.
Kareena Lee received Australia’s first Olympic open water swimming medal with a third-placed end in Tokyo.
Open water swimming in Paris will happen within the River Seine — the place all swimming occasions occurred when Paris first hosted the Games in 1900.
There are, nevertheless, nonetheless issues about water high quality within the river after a Open Water Swimming World Cup occasion was cancelled in August as “water quality in the Seine … remained below acceptable standards for safeguarding swimmers’ health” in accordance to a press release from the French Swimming Federation.
At the time of the cancellation, World Aquatics president, Husain al-Musallam, stated the organisation was “disappointed … but the health of our athletes must always be our top priority”.
“World Aquatics remains excited at the prospect of city-centre Olympic racing for the world’s best open-water swimmers next summer.
“However, this weekend has demonstrated it’s completely crucial sturdy contingency plans are put in place.”
Heavy rain had caused overflows of untreated waste in the Seine, leaving water quality below safety standards.
Olympic organisers stressed water-management efforts involved a $2.4 million investment by the state and local authorities, resulting in a large reduction in polluted discharges.
Additional infrastructure remains to be within the works, together with a large underground reservoir in Paris that may inventory extra water throughout storms so it does not spill untreated into the river.
A subsequent triathlon test event went by without issue later in August, but the World Triathlon Para Cup was cancelled just two days later.
“We have noticed a major discrepancy on the info between the outcomes of the newest water high quality exams supplied by the laboratory and the excessive frequency pattern analysers,” World Triathlon said in a statement.
“Considering this discrepancy, and never to put the well being and security of the athletes in danger, the choice has been made to cancel all of the swim actions deliberate for right this moment.”
Organisers said the schedule will allow for adjustments to be made in 2024 should there excessive rainfall leading to increased pollutants in the river.
One of the Paris Games’ legacy objectives is cleaning up the Seine to allow for public swimming, something that was banned in 1923.
Le Monde reported last year that authorities have invested €1.4 billion ($2.35 billion) into a “Swimming Plan” to reduce pollution by 75 per cent by summer 2024.
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