Olympic Officials Postpone Men’s Triathlon Due to Pollution in the Seine

Ahead of the Olympics, the city of Paris spent about $1.5 billion to clean up the long-polluted river.

Maybe the mayor of Paris shouldn’t have taken that dip in the Seine…

Concerns about water quality in the Seine River led Paris Olympics organizers to postpone the men’s triathlon Tuesday, with officials hoping the swimming portion of the race will be able to go forward on Wednesday.

“Paris 2024 and World Triathlon reiterate that their priority is the health of the athletes. The tests carried out in the Seine today revealed water quality levels that did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held,” World Triathlon, the international governing body for the sport at the Olympics, said in a statement posted on X .

The women’s competition is also scheduled for that day, but both will only proceed if water tests show acceptable levels of E. coli and other bacteria in the river. Friday is also planned as a backup date.

However, storms or rain are forecast from Tuesday night through Thursday, which could complicate efforts to reschedule the events because rain generally causes bacteria levels in the Seine to rise.

“Despite the improvement in the water quality levels in the last hours, the readings at some points of the swim course are still above the acceptable limits,” the press release continued.

Ahead of the Olympics, the city of Paris and local water agencies spent about $1.5 billion to clean up the Seine, retrofitting an antiquated sewer system that overflows into the river when it is overwhelmed by heavy rain.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a highly publicized dip —rescheduled twice—nine days before the opening ceremony in a bid to ease fears. Hidalgo’s initial plan to swim on June 23 was postponed because of the level of the river and the bacteria in it. The swim was then rescheduled to June 30, which ended up not happening because of snap parliamentary elections in France.

Many were still left skeptical when the mayor got suited up to dive into the murky water, maybe because there was a running hashtag, with their own website to solidify their message, #JeChieDansLaSeineLe23Juin, translating to “I sh*t in the Seine on June 23.”

Although there is no evidence Parisians committed to the bit, the spiking E. coli levels, which could expose athletes to serious health concerns, have made the Olympians rightfully frustrated.

French Triathlon Federation technical director Benjamin Maze told French media on Tuesday that “there was a bit of anger and disappointment on the part of the triathletes” as they found out today’s event had been canceled.

“The events were supposed to take place at 8 a.m., so when we heard the news, they were already at breakfast eating some rice. Well, the pre-race meal as usual,” Maze told French network TF1.

The men’s triathlon is now scheduled to start at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, which may make the heat more of a factor with the event finishing at the hottest part of the day.

“There are unfortunate meteorological events outside of our control,” said Aurélie Merle , the Paris 2024 director of sports. “But otherwise the project is still very strong. When we see the impact on the quality and the legacy that we can leave also to the Parisians, we all feel extremely proud of what we’ve done so far.”