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Sydney Harbour patrols to keep sharks, terrorists at bay
SYDNEY, Sept 10 (AFP) - Olympic sailors and triathletes can sleep easy with unprecedented steps being taken to ward off sharks and prevent a seaborne terrorist attack in Sydney Harbour, it emerged on Sunday. The Sydney Olympics will be the best protected in Games history with divers carrying sonar devices, and volunteers in dinghies beating the water with paddles, scaring off sharks and water police aboard high-speed jet skis helping to protect against terrorist raids. While the sailing venue at Pusan in South Korea was equipped with special anti-submarine nets to vend off possible North Korean infiltration during the 1988 Olympics, Sydney is taking precautions against creatures of the deep as well as terrorists. It was revealed on Sunday that Sydney Water police, known locally as the Water Rats, will secure the exclusion zone around the sailing courses on the harbour using a fleet of jet skis. Passenger ferries, many of which have been forced to adopt a zig-zag route to avoid windsurfers training in the harbour, and other craft will be kept close to shore by the jet ski patrols from September 16. The high-tech devices introduced to keep sharks at bay during the triathlon events in the scenic harbour area on September 16 and 17 were given their first "live" test on Sunday during a pre-Games race for Olympic athletes. Seventy of the 100 Games competitors took to the water as divers patrolled nearby with their electrical devices to ward off sharks. The precautionary steps were introduced after some triathletes, alerted by press reports, said they feared a shark attack. "There is a perception internationally that there are sharks waiting in the water for the triathletes and that's just not true," said competition manager David Hansen. "They are not a real issue and none were spotted today." Sharks rarely venture into Sydney Harbour before the water heats up in November and the last fatal shark attack in the area was in 1963. The triathlon, which consists of a 1500 metre swim, 40 kilometre cycle section and a 10km run, is being staged at the Olympics for the first time and organisers, competitors and officials hailed the dress rehearsal a success. "We are trying to get things right so that the sport is retained for the 2004 Olympics," said Les McDonald, president of the International Triathlon Union. "The sport is a young one and we got into the Olympics after only 10 years - we want to make sure it stays there. I am feeling good about the competition." The rehearsal, which included a staged false start to test procedures and a mock medal ceremony, saw the competitors swim in the harbour, cycle through downtown Sydney and race to the finish in the shadow of the famous Sydney Opera House. "You can feel what it will be like in the race," said Gilberto Gonzales of Venezuela, the 1999 Pan American Games champion. "I now know what to expect in the race and what the conditions will be like.
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