Paris officials confident Seine will be clean for Olympic swimming

Two weeks before the start of the Olympic Games, the city of Paris is confident that the water quality of the Seine will be good enough to hold competitive events in the river as planned.

"We have no doubt that we will be able to hold the competitions on the scheduled date," Pierre Rabadan, the deputy mayor of Paris responsible for the Olympic Games, told the RFI radio station on Friday.

The water quality of the river had recently been sufficient on eight out of 10 days, Rabadan said.

According to the new analysis of the water quality presented by the city, which covers the period up to Tuesday, it complied with the regulations for holding Olympic competitions on six of the last seven days measured. Over 80% of the water analyses complied with the limit values.

The water quality deteriorated at certain points due to heavy rain, both in Paris itself and in the upper reaches of the river.

The open-water swimming races over 10 kilometres are scheduled for August 8 (women) and August 9 (men).