The Olympics

Olympics organisers cancel second triathlon training over Seine water quality

Author: Editors Desk Source: France 24

July 29, 2024 at 08:18

A local resident swims in the Seine, in Paris on July 17, 2024, after the mayor of Paris swim in the river to demonstrate that it is clean enough to host the outdoor swimming events at the Paris Olympics later this month. © Joel Saget, AFP

Paris 2024 organisers canceled Monday's swimming training session due to inadequate water quality in the Seine, following a similar cancellation on Sunday. Despite recent heavy rains impacting the river's pollution levels, they remain optimistic that conditions will improve in time for the men's triathlon on Tuesday.

In a joint statement, Paris 2024 organisers and World Triathlon said they had taken the decision to cancel Monday's swimming training session because "water quality levels... do not present sufficient guarantees" to allow it to take place.

The triathlon is the first Olympic event due to be held in the Seine, before marathon swimming in the second week of the Games. A swimming training session slated for Sunday was also cancelled due to the pollution levels.

The men's individual triathlon is scheduled to start on Tuesday at 8:00 am (06000 GMT), with the women's individual event to be held on Wednesday.

The quality of the Seine's water is dependent on the amount of rain that falls in and around Paris.Heavy downpours of the sort seen on Friday during the sodden opening ceremony of the Games overwhelm the city's sewage system, leading to discharges of untreated effluent into the waterway.

The Paris 2024 organisers and World Triathlon, however, said they were "confident" that water quality would improve sufficiently before the start of competition on Tuesday, taking into account the weather forecast for the next 48 hours.

After downpours on Friday and Saturday, the sun has returned to the French capital since Sunday morning.Due to an exceptionally wet spring and start to summer, the Seine had been consistently failing water tests until the start of July.

Levels of the E.coli bacteria — an indicator of faecal matter — were sometimes 10 times higher than authorised limits.

Paris 2024 organisers have the ability to delay the outdoor swimming events by several days in the event of rain.As a last resort, they have said they will cancel the swimming leg of the triathlon and move the marathon swimming to Vaires-sur-Marne, on the Marne river east of Paris.

French authorities have invested 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) over the last decade to clean up the Seine.

On July 17, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine along with Paris 2024 chief organiser Tony Estanguet to demonstrate it was ready for the Olympics.

(AFP)