As water, water everywhere. All that was missing was the weather to further complicate preparation for the Games. This week, for the second time in a row, the full-scale test of the river parade planned for the opening ceremony on July 26 was canceled. Reason given: too much rain in recent days and too much flow in the Seine to sail, in single file and in complete safety, the hundred boats planned for the big celebration. Part postponed, assure the organizers who cling to historical statistics: in July, the rainfall is lower and the waters of the river calmer…
Will they be cleaner to allow Anne Hidalgo to keep her promise: put on her swimsuit for a quick dip in the Seine before the athletes’ big swim? For now, nothing has been won. The latest analyzes carried out on May 22 at the Alexandre III bridge and the Alma bridge, in the heart of the capital, by an independent laboratory commissioned by the Surfrider foundation leave one wondering. The results of tests which only relate to the search for two bacteria – Escherichia coli and enterococci – reveal water quality considered poor, according to the standards of the international swimming and triathlon federations as well as those of the French Agency for Environmental and Occupational Health Safety. With regard in particular to the bacteria Escherichia coli, the levels reached during the last samples are almost twice as high as the maximum limit imposed by the two sports federations… limit already significantly more flexible than that of the health authorities. But there is something even more worrying.
By dissecting all the Surfrider readings, we see that, of the 16 analyzes carried out since September 28, 2023, 12 conclude that the waters of the Seine are “poor” in terms of Escherichia coli. In the four remaining cases, the waters are described as “average”. Nothing surprising, respond the organizers of the Games, since the infrastructure work – creation of retention basins and connections to the sewer system for a certain number of boats and residences – has not been completed.
But the main thing will be finished for the Games, promises the entourage of the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa–Castéra. From this Saturday, June 1, Paris town hall is launching daily analyzes of the waters of the Seine at eight different points upstream of the Olympic site. Analyzes which will theoretically be published once a week. The athletes ask questions. At the beginning of March, Brazilian swimmer Ana Marcela Cunha, reigning Olympic champion in open water swimming, alerted French organizers of a risk of fiasco. No plan B officially. In the worst case, competitions will be postponed while waiting for better days. All we have to do is pray that the rain nymphs, the Hyades, finally emerge from the Macronian sky.