Marathon Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Men and women both swam a single marathon swimming event at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, a 10 km race. The event was held in Forte Copacabana Bay in the Copacabana section of Rio. Much of the pre-race discussion about this event concerned the water quality in Fort Copacabana Bay, as there were complaints about bacterial and viral infestation, and the media made it a huge topic coming into the Rio Olympics. In the end the Organizing Committee cleaned up the water and there were no major complaints from the competitors.

For the first time both marathon swimming events were won by swimmers from the same nation, in this case the Netherlands. Ferry Weertman won the men’s race while Sharon van Rouwendaal took gold in the women’s event.