By Ian Ransom
PARIS (Reuters) -Netherlands' iron-woman Sharon van Rouwendaal claimed her second Olympic women's 10km marathon swimming gold as she snatched victory from her Australian friend and training partner Moesha Johnson in the long slog through the river Seine on Thursday.
The 30-year-old Van Rouwendaal has now medalled at three straight Games after the 2016 champion won silver in Tokyo, making her the most accomplished open-water swimmer at Olympics.
She bided her time before striking late in the final leg upstream, swimming close by a pylon at the Pont des Invalides where the current was weaker before powering past Johnson.
She held on to finish first after a lung-busting two hours, three minutes and 34.2 seconds, 5.5 seconds ahead of Johnson.
Ginevra Taddeucci won the bronze for Italy in 2:03.42.8.
Van Rouwendaal was grief-stricken after her dog died in May and lost interest in swimming for a few weeks before her father convinced her to race.
"My dad said you’ve been away from him for seven years during competitions. Just give it one more race, give it everything and swim for him," she said.
"So I had a tattoo three days later after the cremation. And I was like, 'Let’s try it and I’ll swim for him with my whole heart'. And I did, I won for him."
Johnson was thrilled with her silver and said she had no regrets about how the race ended.
"Sharon's my best friend, also the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) of the sport, so to be right up there with her sharing that podium, it's like more than a dream come true," she told reporters.
"I took my line, stuck to it ... I committed and I'm happy with my decision. I still got silver."
WATER QUALITY
The race went ahead as scheduled after organisers said the water quality in the river flowing through Paris had met acceptable thresholds.
The swimmers dived off a pontoon by the Alexandre III bridge right on schedule and swam furiously toward the Pont de l'Alma on a 1.67km loop to be completed six times between the bridges.
They flew down-river with the current but had to slog their way up-river on each of the return legs, hugging the banks to try to minimise the force of strong currents.
Johnson rounded the first lap in front, conceded the lead to Van Rouwendaal but won it back downstream on lap four.
The pair were joined by Taddeucci in a three-woman breakaway and blew out the gap to the rest of the field by more than 30 seconds before the wily Van Rouwendaal's late burst saw her take control.
Brazil's Ana Marcela Cunha, who pipped Van Rouwendaal to gold in Tokyo three years ago, finished fourth.
The men race on Friday but the completion of the women's event without any apparent incident will have been a relief for city officials who have staked so much on cleaning up the urban waterway.
French authorities spent 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) on upgrading the city's sewage systems, promising the river would be clean for residents to swim in by next summer.
However, water quality issues proved a headache during the triathlon events, with familiarisation sessions cancelled and the men's race postponed by 24 hours.
Taddeucci brushed off concerns about feeling ill post-race.
"Of course I've swum in better places, and I was only caring about not feeling sick, but it was fine," said the Italian.
($1 = 0.9151 euros)
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Tom Hogue and Ken Ferris)
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