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Sports

Serbian Rowers Capsize in Rio's Poopy Water, In Flip Book Form

If the IOC won't let us do GIFs, then here we go.

F' the International Olympic Committee. F 'em all the way to heck. Because the IOC wanted to choke out the free market and embolden the oligarchy, they have officially banned the use of any non-official (non NBC, BBC, etc.) Olympic video or even GIFs, which normally bypass intellectual property laws by way of their 'creative looping interpretation.' And because we have a credentialed reporter down in Rio, we don't want our wrists slapped. So here, we present our first Olympics highlight in flipbook form. You're welcome. (Note that we didn't use a GIF, thank you very much.)

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So here's what happened: Serbia's men's sculling pair went into their race in the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon this morning with every intention of finishing. But instead, they took a dip into the lagoon halfway through the race, as high winds and choppy waters pushed the pair over.

Now this would be a kind of whatever moment in most Olympics, but this isn't most Olympics. You see, Rio has come under fire for hosting Olympic events in poop and virus-infested waters, and their general response has been: "meh." With sewage and adenoviruses said to be contaminating the waters, rowers have been encouraged to keep their mouths closed in the event of capsizing. (And I can't imagine why they wouldn't follow that advice.)

Milos Vasic and Nenad Bedik, the Serbian rowers who fell in, are no joke—they won bronze at last year's world championships—but the conditions were just too rough, as they were taken out 1,250 meters into the 2,000 meter race. They were unable to flip their boat back over, and ended with a DNF (did not finish) designation. You can see the video on this other website that doesn't care much about getting caught. (Note the pinpoint accuracy of the above flipbook's interpretation.)

Britain's rower Kath Grainger said of the conditions after placing fourth in her double sculls event with partner Vicky Thornley, "We've put 10 years plus into this and to have it decided on a little bit of lottery and what waves hit a boat at a particular time is a little bit disappointing—but clearly they are going to race it, so it's going to be about handling these conditions as well as possible."

FISA—the world rowing body—ruled that the conditions were extraordinary, and that Vasic and Bedik will be allowed back in at the repechage, basically a do-over, on Sunday.