Sailors competing in the Rio Olympics could have bumped in to a severed leg - if a local hadn’t have spotted the body part floating near the competition.

The gruesome find yesterday in the city's Guanabara Bay came as Britain's Scott Giles opened up a unassailable lead in Finn class, in waters just a few miles away.

Sailing events on the bay in the Brazilian city are scheduled for the next four days.

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Sailing events on the Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro are scheduled for the next four days

Winner: The gruesome find yesterday in the city's Guanabara Bay came as Britain's Scott Giles opened up a unassailable lead in Finn class, in waters just a few miles away

Police were called after residents of Ilha do Governador saw the male leg, which had been chopped off at the hip, bobbing in waters near the coastline.

The leg had the name 'Kauan' tattooed on the calf, police said. But a source at the city's homicide police department said the victim is unlikely to be identified.

He said: ‘The leg was taken away to be examined. Samples will be taken in case anyone comes forward to report anyone missing.

'But they will not be compared with lists of people already reported as missing. It is very common to find body parts in the Guanabara Bay.

'It was probably someone murdered by the drugs gangs who was dumped in one of the rivers that flow into the bay.’

Rubbish on the banks of a polluted water channel that flows into the nearby Guanabara Bay, where sailing competitions are taking place at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro

The waters of Guanabara Bay were criticised ahead of the Games, with sailors complaining of coming across debris, plastic bags and even sofas while training.

With just days to go before the event photographs emerged showing parts of the bay near Rio Airport covered in rubbish.

Meanwhile, researchers continue to find raw sewage and antibiotic-resistant bacteria not far from where long-distant swimmers and triathletes will compete.