Necessary roughness defines Olympic marathon swim, and sinks Weinberger's hopes

RIO DE JANEIRO - When Olympic medals are on the line, all the camaraderie that Richard Weinberger adores about the marathon-swimming community he’s a part of goes out the chute, and the result is the sort of moving, splashing free-for-all that’d bring up the inquiry sign at the racetrack, or empty a soccer referee’s breast pocket.

And he loves it that way -- enough that a 17th-place finish, 17 seconds behind winning Dutchman Ferry Weertman, had him making post-race plans for a 2020 return to an event that continues to evolve. Four years ago in London, it was contested in the relatively placid waters of London’s Hyde Park, but this test, in the dirty swells off Copacabana Beach, was mayhem from the start.

With the starting platform blown away by big surf a couple of days ago, the field of 25 waded and swam out to a start point in the water and immediately ignored the rule book that calls for them to line up according to number. In the ensuing 10-km race, five yellow flags went up and two swimmers were disqualified, including Jack Burnell of Great Britain at the finish, who called it “(bleeping) outrageous.” Meanwhile, Greece’s Spiros Gianniotis appeared to have the race won, just ahead of a pack of six tightly packed swimmers headed to a photo finish - but he missed touching the bridge-like finish mark.

This was Weinberger’s “swimming Kitzbuhel,” as he called it, and it proved a mountain too high -- and too fast, perhaps even too rough and wild.

“When that frenzy goes on, that’s not his strength,” said Canada coach Stephen Price. “He’s not the biggest, strongest guy in the pack. Those guys can muscle him out.

“You’ve just seen the evolution of this sport in four years. It’s only going to get harder and tougher, and as more pool guys get into it, it’ll get faster.”

Weinberger was actually right in the mix through three laps of the rectangular four-lap course. Then it all started to fall apart in keeping with the theme of the day.

“As the fourth lap started there was a lot of fighting - open-water tactics used by a lot of these guys that don’t cause yellow red cards. And they were really putting pressure on me,” he said.

That’s pressure as in grabbing his feet, or catching a wave and rolling right over on top of him -- even at one point he took a heads-up, head-on collision with a competitor. Not that Weinberger was merely the recipient. He handed it out, too.

“There’s a lot of subtle things you can do,” he said. “I saw maybe four or five yellow cards, (and) so much whistling. I have a secret for that. I listen to so much music so loud before the race that I don’t hear shit. If I get red-carded they’re going to have to pull me out of there physically.”

[Related: Marathon swimmer's Rio message: C'mon in, the water's fine]

That's what he's used to, though, and what he trained for. “We’re all crazy in our way,” he said of the community of distance swimmers. “It’s a sign of respect to throw everything you can at your best friend in here. If you’re holding back that’s almost disrespect.

“And at the end of the race, we can all grab a beer together.”

At 26, Weinberger has “70 or 80” of these races under his belt and he ranked this one right up there as far as rough conditions. Mountains were definitely on his mind Tuesday - his long-distance swim is not yet done, at least as far as he’s concerned.

“I’m pissed off. I gotta race ...I was talking to my competitors here about climbing Mount Fuji after the Olympics.”

That’d be the 2020 Olympics, of course. By then, perhaps they’ll have added a penalty box.