The upcoming Paris Olympics triathlon may be at risk of not happening because the city’s River Seine is so polluted with dangerous levels of bacteria AND FECES, that it may not be safe in time for the athletes to compete in it.
According to France’s Surfider Foundation, which has monitored the country’s water levels for over 20 years, samples in recent weeks and months have at times been at least 4x the World Triathlon health standards. “We are therefore genuinely concerned about the health of athletes,” the Foundation said.
Paris’ citizens themselves haven’t been allowed to legally swim in the water for decades now – it literally is a cesspool. The city had previously allocated $1.5 billion to try and clean the water, but apparently didn’t do a good enough job.
Team USA's Matthew McElroy is expected to perform well at this summer's Paris Olympics. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
water full of dangerous bacteria
This concern is so real that the International Olympic Committee has also spoken out on the issue, saying that if the water is not safe enough, triathlons may be changed to duathlons with just running and cycling.
The news comes as the entire French city of Paris has been hit by an outbreak of bed bugs, with government officials holding an emergency meeting several months ago to try to figure out how to get the bugs under control. So much so that I had to.
Imagine working your whole life as an athlete for the biggest moment of all: the Olympics.
After all, that's what dreams are made of. This is all the training sessions you did when you were sick, all the times you were sad because you missed birthday parties and weddings because of the competition, and the Olympics to make it all worth it. That was the final goal.
And suddenly it literally goes to the garbage dump.
