River Seine training cancelled for fifth time just days after athlete vomited at Olympics
The River Seine was a major concern heading into the Olympics and it has unfortunately proved problematic with a fifth swimming session called off.
Paris Olympics organisers have had to call off swimming in the River Seine once again, marking the fifth cancellation due to concerns over water quality. Identified as a key issue before the Games commenced, the polluted river remains a health hazard after heavy rainfall led to increased pollution levels and the disruption of scheduled events.
The latest issue occurred on Tuesday morning when elevated levels of enterococci bacteria - which indicates the presence of faecal matter - forced chiefs to cancel the marathon swimmers' familiarisation session. Their decision was confirmed in a statement.
It read: "After the daily situation meeting this morning between Ville de Paris, Paris 2024 and World Aquatics, it has been decided that the familiarisation session to take place today, 6 August 2024 is cancelled."
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This development comes despite substantial investment reported to be in the region of €1.4billion (£1.2bn) into projects aimed at cleaning up the Seine for what is the first urban river to be used at the modern Olympic Games. Swimming in the Seine was previously banned for over 100 years.
The water quality issues have already caused sickness among triathletes, with Canada's Tyler Mislawchuk throwing up live on TV after the men's event and Belgium's Claire Michel contracting E. coli after the women's, resulting in her hospitalisation and the withdrawal of their team from the mixed relay.
The World Triathlon governing body gave the go-ahead for that event on Monday, despite training being axed on the two previous days due to safety concerns. They assured that bacterial levels in the water had dropped to a safe threshold, although they did not disclose specific figures.
Paris's sewage system notoriously dumps untreated wastewater into the Seine during heavy downpours, like the one that struck the city at the opening ceremony. The river is reportedly flowing at two to three times its normal rate for the summer.
With triathletes who completed a 1500m swim already contending with health problems, prospects appear grim for the upcoming 10km marathon swims scheduled for Thursday (August 8) for women and Friday (August 9) for men.
A contingency plan is in place to relocate the events to Vaires-sur-Marne on the River Marne, east of Paris, if necessary. However, organisers say they're "very confident" the races will proceed as planned in the Seine.
