It's no wonder the organizers of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games are a little nervous about their decision to host open water swimming in the mighty but not-so-clear waters of the Seine.
Last August, a swimming marathon test event was canceled because the water was too dirty, and swimmers' legs were also dirty on two days of the four-day triathlon and paratriathlon tests.
The city of Paris insists there is “no plan B”.
The course for the men's and women's 10km event starts at the iconic Pont Alexandre III and travels 1km down the river, past famous sights such as the Musée d'Orsay and Paris, with Les Invalides and the Eiffel Tower in the background. Grand Palais.
Perhaps fittingly, we pass the newly renovated Paris Sewers Museum before turning around. Triathlon swims are short and return quickly.
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This route was chosen to convey the beauty of Paris.
This is also politically symbolic. Swimming in the Seine has been prohibited since 1923, but various mayors in Paris have vowed to reopen the river.
In 1990, when he was mayor of France before becoming president, Jacques Chirac promised that the river would be clean enough to swim in “soon” and that he would celebrate by swimming. He never did.
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Current Mayor Anne Hidalgo, an active advocate of environmental initiatives, also took the plunge before the Olympics, pledging to allow the public to swim in three locations by 2025.
Although city authorities claim water quality has improved, none of the samples taken between June and September 2023 met European standards for minimum water quality for swimming.
The big problem is feces. When heavy rains wash debris and untreated wastewater from banks and overflowing drains and sewers into rivers, bacteria in the water rapidly increase.
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The city is testing water at 14 locations. In 2022, the water quality in three of these locations was judged to be “satisfactory,” but by last summer it had deteriorated.
Open water swimming last August was canceled after officials said the worst rains in nearly 60 years and E. coli measurements reached six times the target level set by World Aquatics.
The city of Paris claimed it had “learned” from sampling issues at the test event.
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National and local governments are also investing 1.4 billion euros (more than $1.5 billion) in five projects aimed at storing and purifying water, which are expected to start in the coming weeks.
Paris city officials say the failure of a triathlon team test and a paratriathlon swim test two weeks later was due to a “faulty valve” in the city's sewage system, not rain.
Officials acknowledged that weather remains the “main risk” and the main concern is “extraordinary rainfall”.
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Still, the city's deputy mayor, Pierre Rabadin, insisted that if the new water treatment and storage project “had been ready, there would have been no problems during the test event last August.”
The only alternative for swimming is to postpone the event for a few days.
Following the cancellation last August, Paris 2024 Organizing Committee Chairman Tony Estinguett said: “There is no option to change the Games. Triathlon and open water swimming will be held on the Seine next year.'' Stated.
For athletes, this is the Olympics, and dirty water is always a risk in open water competitions.
At the end of a 2019 test event ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, swimmers protested against the water quality in Tokyo Bay. The polluted Guanabara Bay made headlines before the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“Even if the water is dirty, I would rather swim in the electric atmosphere of central Paris than in anonymous bodies of water,” Italian double world champion Gregorio Paltrinieri told Italian media in January. told.
It's a “sparkling setting”.
Frenchman Marc-Antoine Olivier, who won silver at the world championships in Qatar in February, said he was also excited.
“People might be scared of being in the water, but it would be incredible to swim in a historic place,” he said.
“Of course, a lot of people will try to make a little buzz about this situation, but if we can swim there will be no problem. They won't let us swim and risk someone catching something. .”
But if the worst happens, triathlons could become “duathlons” by removing the swimming leg, as was the case in some of the test events in Paris last summer.
“It's a shame, but we've adapted to duathlon,” said British athlete Beth Potter, who won the individual test event.
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