Faced with the possible difficulty of holding the triathlon events in the Seine, a radical solution is being considered.
A few weeks before the opening of the Olympic Games, the holding of the open water swimming events and the triathlon swim is still on hold. Announced as the flagship element of these Paris 2024 Games, the promise of holding these events in the Seine is failing. In question, the quality of the water of the Parisian river, subject to the vagaries of the weather and the efficiency of the capital’s wastewater evacuation network.
The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo had also announced that she would swim in the Seine on June 23, but the date was finally postponed to “after July 14”. However, numerous works have been implemented to make the river swimmable, including a 50,000 m3 retention basin located at Austerlitz station. In total, 1.4 billion euros were injected into the sanitation plan, while the decree prohibiting swimming in the river dates from 1923.
If the Town Hall and the organizing committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games ensure that the open water swimming and triathlon swimming events can be held on July 30 and 31 as well as August 8 and 9, the possibility of Heavy rain cannot be ruled out. Also, the possibility of planning contingency days in order to be able to postpone surfing-style events is being studied. But so far, the organizers are refusing to mention the slightest plan B which could involve holding the events in another location. Also, if it is impossible to postpone the triathlon, the latter would become… A duathlon, that is to say an event combining only cycling and running. Swimming would simply be abandoned. This is in fact one of the possibilities mentioned by the COJOP as a last resort, a possibility which obviously does not enchant either the athletes or the organizers.
Less than a month before the opening ceremony of the Games, this question of the cleanliness of the Seine remains at the heart of the debates, and the Brazilian Olympic open water swimming champion Marcela Cunha had urged the organizers to find a plan B during an interview last February.
A statement which had bothered the manager of the French teams Stéphane Lecat, “in Rio, there is a Maracana of untreated water in the sea every day. The sanitation system which was to serve as a legacy has never been implemented. Except that I have never heard a Brazilian athlete say that you should not swim in Copacabana because it was unsanitary. That means that when you are a world champion, you are a spokesperson. but when you want…”