England swimming head coach Jon Rudd has expressed his 'disappointment' that the Rio 2016 Olympics will stage late-night races.
Organisers reportedly plan to begin some finals as late as 10pm in order to cater for television audiences in the United States.
"It's a really disappointing outcome," Rudd told swimvortex.com. "There also seems to be a lot of smoke and mirrors. IOC saying it's FINA, FINA saying it's IOC and then both saying the athletes are fine with it when they are clearly not. It's a shame.
"If you are asking me is it the right decision and were the swimmers consulted and their performances thought about in that decision then, no.
"For a lot of guys it will be the pinnacle of their careers and they don't get the right environment to maybe produce the performances you'd hope they'd produce. Now we'll get on with it but it's a shame that that is the decision we've come to as a sport."
The International Olympic Committee confirmed last week that proposals to host late-night races have been accepted, but a schedule is yet to be finalised.
