According to an investigation commissioned by the Associated Press, not one water venue for next year's Olympic Games is safe for swimming or boating.

Tests have also found levels of disease-causing viruses in the waters to be as much as 1.7 million times the level of what would be considered hazardous on a Southern California beach.

Ashley said he’s aware of the report and insisted he’d been "paying close attention to the matter for quite some time".

"The welfare of our athletes is my highest priority and I want to make sure that we’re giving them the information they need in order to make good decisions about their careers and about their futures," he added during a teleconference
in advance of the one-year out mark to Rio 2016, a landmark that will be celebrated next Wednesday (August 5). 

"I’m trying to collect as much data and information as I can through the relevant national and International Federations, and the Olympic Organising Committee, and then using that data to provide information back to the NGBs [National governing bodies]."

Asked if he could detail any specific measures the USOC intends to take, Ashley replied: "It’s mostly just collecting data, similar to what the AP (Associated Press) have done.

"[We're] gathering information about water quality and then usually the experts we have in our country, help find out what sort of prophylactic you can use to make sure the athletes, if they’re exposed to certain things, have the best chance of keeping healthy.

"That’s the strategy."

The International Olympic Committee has claimed in a statement that it is in constant dialogue with organisers on making sure the waters are clean enough.

"Pro-active measures around the Guanabara Bay - such as closing landfills, reducing industrial pollution, increasing water treatment works, and reducing floating garbage - are being taken and implemented by the local authorities," read the statement.

"We have had reassurances from the WHO [World Health Organization] and others that there is no significant risk to athlete health."

Earlier this month, Rio State Government officials denied failing to meet targets regarding pollution levels on Guanabara Bay, hailing the great progress supposedly made over the last eight years and insisting the issue will create "no problems" during next summer's Olympic and Paralympic sailing competitions.

Reducing levels of pollution on the Bay was heralded as one of the great legacy aims of Rio de Janeiro's initial bid for the Games in 2009, with officials aiming to engineer an 80 per cent reduction by the time they came round. 

But the issue has provoked huge criticism in recent months, with many concerns voiced over the safety of sailors competing on the Marina da Glória amid some calls for the event to be moved further out to sea into cleaner waters away from the host city.

A second sailing test event is scheduled to take place next month from August 15 to 22.


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