The swimming leg of the Olympic triathlon is in danger of being scrapped after pollution in the River Seine canceled swimming training for triathletes.
For a second successive day, training has been called off following Sunday’s ‘familiarisation’ session being scrapped. A statement was issued on Monday by Paris 2024 and World Triathlon as it was announced that water quality tests had shown the level was still below an acceptable standard with organisers reiterating “that the priority is the health of the athletes".
The men’s triathlon is due to start on Tuesday, but has two contingency dates on August 1 and 2 built into the program. If the water quality level hasn’t reached the required standard on race day then the event will be reduced to just two legs with the swimming element dropped, making it a duathlon with athletes competing on the bike and running legs.
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Tests earlier in July showed the Seine’s condition was suitable for swimming, seeing Paris’ mayor Anne Hidalgo and Minister of Sports and Games, Amelie Oudea-Castera, taking a dip in the river in an attempt to prove the extensive de-pollution works that took place in the build-up to the event. However, heavy rainfall in the French capital on Friday and Saturday has meant the quality diminished.
The Paris 2024 and World Triathlon statement said: "The tests carried out in the Seine [on Sunday] revealed water quality levels that in the view of the international federation, World Triathlon, did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held. This is due to rain that has fallen on Paris on 26 and 27 July.
“Given the weather forecast for the next 36 hours, Paris 2024 and World Triathlon are confident that water quality will return to below limits before the start of the triathlon competitions on 30 July."
The effects of significant rainfall can lead to untreated sewage being washed into the river but the statement continued to insist the water quality did improve through periods of dry weather during the summer: "As observed in July, with summer conditions (more sunshine, higher temperatures, prolonged absence of rain) water quality in the Seine has improved significantly."
French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to swim in the Seine in order to prove its safety following the clean-up effort. Despite his promise, he failed to make it happen before the start of Paris 2024. "He didn't announce that he was going to swim before the Olympics, he announced that he was going to swim and he has always expressed this certainty," a presidential spokesperson previously stated. "He will not necessarily have the opportunity to do so before the Games."
"As he said when he announced it, what seems essential to him beyond the fact that it allows us to organize Olympic competitions, is that it will above all allow us to open swimming sites for all the numerous residents of the Ile-de-France region in the years to come," the adviser explained. "It will therefore undoubtedly be in this spirit that he will have the opportunity to swim when he is able to do so."
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