Paris Olympics: River Seine pollution could cancel triathlon swimming
Paris' Seine river pollution could cancel triathlon swimming at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Games President Tony Estanguet said.
It is supposed to be the unique centerpiece of Paris 2024: swimming events held in the river Seine thanks to an environmental rejuvenation for this romantic but polluted waterway.
This week that aspiration was dealt a filthy reality check.
The president of the Olympics has admitted that the triathlon swimming section could be postponed or canceled if pollution levels are still too high. His comments came after a French charity warned that bacteria, including “pollution of fecal origin,” was far higher in the river than permitted with a little over 100 days to go.
This despite France spending 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) on upgrading the city’s antiquated sewage system, which discharges waste into the river during periods of heavy rainfall.
“We can postpone for rainy conditions,” Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet said during a conference in Birmingham, England, on Tuesday. Despite saying he was “confident that it will be possible to use the Seine,” he admitted that there could be “a final decision where we could not swim — it’s part of the rules of the International Federation. It’s what we want to avoid, of course.”
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