With just over one month remaining until the Seine River hosts open water swimming and triathlon events at the Olympics, the scenic Paris waterway tested for unsafe levels of E. coli in four different areas for the third week in a row.
E. coli levels were 10 times above acceptable limits on June 18 after another month of heavy rainfall sent untreated sewage into the Seine River. With the nearby Yonne River also flooding, the current flow of the Seine is around four to five times higher than averages in years prior.
One of the major features of France’s $1.5 billion clean-up effort is a 50,000 cubic meter reservoir that finally operated for the first time on June 18 and 19. The water tank prevented 40,000 cubic meters of wastewater from entering the Seine.
Paris 2024 organizers insist that the Seine will be safe for competition with drier weather in the forecast for July. They still have not released a backup location to the public, despite calls for a contingency plan from reigning 10km Olympic champion Ana Marcela Cunha.
“By the second half of July, things should settle down,” Paris 2024 organizing committee chief Tony Estanguet said.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo recently postponed plans to swim in the Seine on Sunday, instead rescheduling for July 14. Local Parisians spread news of a protest on the internet, encouraging others to defecate in the river.
French president Emmanuel Macron also committed to take a dip in the Seine. Swimming in the river has been banned for over a century since 1923, but it is slated to reopen to the public at certain sites beginning in 2025.
The individual triathlon races are scheduled for July 30 and 31 with the mixed relay on August 5. There is less flexibility for the open water swimming events, slated for August 8 and 9. The triathlon international federation could also rule to shorten the triathlon to a duathlon.
Last summer’s test events in the Seine were cancelled due to poor water quality, which officials later attributed to a faulty sewer valve upstream.
I’m baffled you can be put in charge of organizing of all events the Olympics and not think you need contigency planS. My summer swim league had plan Bs ffs
D. Johnston right now: wait, what?
Finke and Whitlock knew what’s up.
I’m not worried that they dont have a backup plan. Of course they do, they just haven’t released it publicly due to political maneuvering and the attempt to utilize Olympic funding for expedited cleanup work (which is just happening slower than planned).
It’s all a political game. But if I were a swimmer I would demand they release their backup plan immediately to assure safety. I imagine a letter from a lawyer saying if swimmers get sick then to expect a lawsuit might help move things along.
Why are there not more athletes protesting this or speaking up they are the ones that could be missing an Olympics because France was too stubborn and incompetent to have a plan B
I think that in general swimmers are discouraged from speaking out against administrators.
Katie Grimes posted this article and said “Bruv”.
So what the athletes should sit back and hope something changes and if nothing does pay the price and put their health on the line!? More athletes need to take to media or some action because what’s happenig for such a big sporting event is ridiculous
I do not disagree with you. I’m just saying that in swimming, people who speak out get lots of special unwanted attention. When you’re dependent on the benevolence of those sport administrators for your income (both now and into the future), it’s hard to speak out.
Athletes who speak out don’t get alumni gigs later.
It’s absolutely ridiculous. Athletes speaking out might finally put the pressure on them to make a change. I hate that athletes have to invest their precious-little political capital into something that’s so friggin’ obvious, but I don’t know what else is going to move the needle.
I am convinced that they have a Plan B and this is all just posturing. I don’t know if… Read more »
Why can’t they just move it to Marseille Where the sailing is going to happen?
Marseille was nice for EJCOW2017
The French are so stubborn and unyielding, aren’t they?
I wished they were this unyielding in WWII.
your comment is vile. Think of all those who died or were shot as a result of acts of resistance
This is a swimming website and comment section. You’re both waaaaaay off topic.
Ew. That is nasty. It won’t improve in a month. There is no friggin’ way I’d swim in that literal shite! If the athletes train in that contaminated water, three days later they could be very sick and unable to compete at all. AND E. Coli infections are contagious, which could tear through the athletes’ village.
Option B suggestion.
Run a prelims/finals pool OWS. Four prelims heats on day 1 with top two from each heat advancing to championship finals on day 2.
10k might be too long for a pool OWS race but a 5k would be really exciting and we’d get a lot of fun underwater camera angles.
Why in the pool when there are many clean water bodies just outside Paris?
Kind of defeats the purpose of the term “open water”
Just remove the lane ropes and have them going 20-30 swimmers wide 🤣
Mark, I don’t particularly like your plan, but I must say, it’s a far cry better than the one the organizers have put forward.