RIO DE JANEIRO – The song was cued up. So when a downpour hit the Olympic stadium it wasn’t long before “I’m singing in the rain” was blaring; but there was little joy for athletes.
Pole vault finalists, discus throwers, and hurdlers all went scurrying for cover when the rain kept falling on Monday night and turned the blue track into a series of pools and puddles. It only added to a foul weather day.
READ MORE: What’s on tap for Team Canada on Day 11 of the Rio Games
On Guanabara Bay, a strong wind from the southwest blew across the Rio de Janeiro Games sailing courses, forcing the medal race in the women’s Laser Radial to be postponed.
“Everyone has some form of damage to their boats, whether it’s a bit of wear and tear on the sails, to people probably lost sails out there because it got that windy,” defending 49er gold medallist Australian Nathan Outteridge.
Sudden winds caused some boats to capsize during races.
At the Olympic Stadium, the bad weather almost claimed an Olympic champion. Croatian discus thrower Sandra Perkovic had two fouls in wet and slippery conditions and was one throw away from being eliminated. In drier conditions, she came through with an automatic qualifying measure for the final. Denia Caballero, the world champion from Cuba, also needed a qualifier on her final attempt after two fouls.
The 110-meter hurdles heats were also hard hit, prompting organizers to run a special race later in the night.
“It’s atrocious. It’s hard to compete in weather like this,” said Jamaican hurdler Omar McLeod, who won the first heat amid heavy rain.
“The water is beaming down in your face and your eyes and it’s real hard.”
READ MORE: Wildfire threatens Olympic mountain bike track
The hurdles already requires high precision and is a risky event.
“You’re worried about getting hurt,” McLeod said.
His teammate Deuce Carter was worse off. He slipped and slid past the finish of the next heat before he was disqualified.
“They could’ve stopped it before. When I went out, the track was soaking,” he said. “I put my hand in water, basically a bucket of water.”
Some found it hard to comprehend why the first two of five heats were allowed to go ahead before rain finally forced a delay of about 25 minutes.
“If it’s a little bit of rain, I don’t mind. I do my practice. But in this pouring rain? I don’t even try,” said Balazs Baji of Hungary, who did qualify in the rain.
The non-qualified hurdlers from the first two heats were given a second chance, including Carter, when organizers added a special race at the end of Monday night’s program to give them a chance to qualify on times. The first four in the five original heats qualified automatically for the next round, leaving the next four places to be decided on times.
“This decision was taken to ensure fairness, because the conditions for heats 1 and 2 were dramatically different than the other heats,” the IAAF, track’s international governing body, said.
There were some amendments in the pole vault as well. The final was already affected by gusts of wind swirling through the stadium and organizers decided to start again from scratch.
WATCH: Rosie MacLennan talks about trampoline gold medal
The conditions may have contributed to Canadian pole vaulter Shawn Barber’s performance. Barber, once a favourite to win, needed two attempts to vault over the opening height of 5.50 metres, then failed on all three attempts to get over 5.65.
“You just try to adjust to the wind and the rain and the different conditions, and we’re all out there making guesses as to what’s going to work,” he said. “Sometimes you take a risk doing one thing or another and it doesn’t work as well as you’d like.”
READ MORE: Canada’s medal streak broken on Day 10
Barber’s early exit ended Canada’s streak of winning at least one medal a day at nine. Canada remained in 11th place in the overall standings with 13 medals (two gold, two silver, nine bronze). The goal coming into the Games was a top 12 finish.
In women’s discus qualifying, the discus was so slippery that 10 of 17 athletes had fouls on their first attempt, with many landing in the protective netting.
Half an hour later, when hurdles qualifying resumed, Brazilian Joao Vitor de Oliveira threw himself across the line to qualify from his heat for the semifinals.
Outside the fans retreated deeper under the roof of the stadium and soon got a wave going before competition resumed.
Comments