Kayakers flipping over while paddling through the water isn’t exactly unheard of – those things can get pretty unsteady. However, kayaks capsizing because they hit a floating sofa is a new one for me, but that’s just what happened to an Olympic kayaker in Rio.
An Olympian can only do so much when rogue sofas are out to get them. Furniture isn’t an obstacle I’d assume any of them prepare for, That’s unfortunate for them this year, since Guanabara Bay – the Olympic venue for sailing and open-water events – happens to be full of sofas, apparently.
Here’s a shot of a sofa on the bay earlier in August:
Image: Mario Tama/Getty Images
That’s not all. Here’s a yellow sofa found floating in the bay in 2014:
The incident has even created #kayaksofa, which isn’t exactly surprising in this day and age. Even less surprising is the new Twitter handle someone created for the infamous sofa, naming it ‘Kayak Sofa.’
https://twitter.com/riokayaksofa/status/763757109813051392
https://twitter.com/riokayaksofa/status/763082834361712640
The incident is being investigated by officials hoping to get to the bottom of it.
More concerning than the sofa knocking the kayaker into the water is the kayaker ending up in the water at all – it’s heavily polluted.
According to CBS New York, an analysis over a 16-month period by The Associated Press showed water venues in the Rio Olympics to be filled with viruses and human sewage. This isn’t exactly comforting news for the 1,400 athletes competing in various water events. It makes you wonder if Kayak Sofa got the last laugh.
