Sharon Van Rouwendaal took a swig of bug-killer coke, peeled off her orange Netherlands top and showed us her scars after emerging from the first Olympic swimming race in the Seine for 124 years.

"Yeah, I have scratches everywhere," said the 30-year-old, pointing to the bloody lines running the length of her inner arm after she'd scraped and snagged them on the thorny berried bushes cascading down the stone embankment.

"It's actually alright ... it's stinging .. but yeah,” she shrugged. The thorns were the least of her challenges in a 10km survival-of-the-fittest fight with the fastest, hardiest long-distance swimmers, threats of spring currents and microbial swilling in the wash before she emerged as the greatest marathon ace in history.

It was a day on which Hungarian Palinka was just what the doctor ordered... read on...

Seine Or Not? That Is The Question The Spirit Of Fran Crippen Gives Us The Answer To

Fran Crippens spirit is with us this morning on the banks of the Seine urging organisers to take a belt-and-braces approach: athlete safety first. “Never again”.

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord