Recent reports suggest that almost 70 per cent of Rio's waste goes untreated into surrounding waters, which includes a lagoon bordering the Olympic Park.

Danish London 2012 bronze medallist Allan Nørregaard visited the area to compete at a local event but was left disgusted by what he saw, insisting that the floating debris - which included entire trees, doors, chunks of timber with nails protruding, swollen mattresses and plastic bags - make racing at the venue unfair and dangerous.

Another sailor is reported to have seen a horse carcass in the Guanabara Bay, while the high levels of fecal pollution - which were last month 78 times that of the Brazilian Government's "satisfactory" limit and 195 times the level considered safe in the United States - in the water present a significant health risk.

"I've been sailing all over the world for 20 years now, and this is the most polluted place I've ever been," Nørregaard told the Associated Press.

"It's really a shame because it's a beautiful area and city, but the water is so polluted, so dirty and full of garbage.

"I would definitely not swim in it.

"We have had a couple of incidents where people went in the water and came up with red dots on their body.

"I don't know what's in the water, but it's definitely not healthy."

Allan Nørregaard has said that the Rio 2016 Olympic sailing venue is the most polluted place he's ever been ©Getty Images


British Sydney 2000 Olympic silver medallist Ian Barker, who now coaches Ireland's sailors, even said that athletes have had to stop during training to untangle their rudders from rubbish.

"It's a sewer," he explained.

"It's absolutely disgusting.

"Something has to be done about it.

"But you need the political will for these things to happen and at the moment it's not there."

Rio 2016 has promised in writing to clean up the waters and Government officials have pledged to reduce the amount of pollution flowing into the bay by 80 per cent before the start of the Games, but environmentalists call the measures taken as a "stopgap" and not a long-term solution to the problem.

Brazilian sailor Martine Soffiatti Grael, daughter of double Olympic champion Torben Grael, grew up on the bay and said she has doubts over the progress being made to remedy the issue.

"For me since I was a child, it has only gotten worse," said the Rio 2016 hopeful.

"The Government says it has lots of programmes to clean the bay, but I haven't seen any progress being made."

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has reportedly put pressure on Rio 2016 to speed up the process of decontaminating the water and President Thomas Bach is expected to visit Brazil at the beginning of 2014 to monitor the progress of the Games, which has come under close scrutiny amid construction and organisation delays.

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