New setback seven weeks before the Olympics. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s swim in the Seine, initially planned for Sunday June 23, before the Olympic Games, should be postponed by a few days, as L’Express reported at the start of the week. “Due to the heavy rains in May and the very strong flow of the river, swimming on June 23 will probably be postponed,” the City confirmed to AFP this Friday, June 7. The most likely postponement date is Sunday June 30.
The prefect of police Laurent Nuñez, the regional prefect Marc Guillaume were also invited to put on their jerseys, as well as Emmanuel Macron, without it being known to date whether the head of state will participate in the same diving session as the mayor of Paris.
The too strong flow of the Seine is already causing some cold sweats among the organizers who must constantly adapt. Latest episode to date, the French open water swimming team, which planned to train in the river on Monday June 10, will not do so. “It is logical that we could not swim because there is a crazy current,” explained Stéphane Lecat, national technical director of open water swimming, who is however “not worried”. This test was to allow French swimmers to familiarize themselves with the river before the Olympic event. However, the current flow is 349 cubic meters per second, while it is expected at 100 cubic meters to be able to crawl there this summer. This would be “dangerous” for swimmers, explains the Paris prefecture. A rehearsal for the opening ceremony, which was to be held at the end of May, was also postponed due to the flow of the river – it should finally be held on June 17. And last summer, the open water swimming test turned into a fiasco because the Seine was polluted due to heavy rains.
A plan B?
The organizers hope that all these setbacks will be behind them. Since June 1 and the commissioning two days before of the Austerlitz rainwater and wastewater retention basin, with a capacity of 50,000 m3, daily samples have been taken upstream of the Olympic site. In the event of intense precipitation, untreated water – a mixture of rain and wastewater – can be released into the river, a phenomenon that retention structures are intended to prevent. A presentation of the results and the chosen methodology is planned for next week.
As the Olympics approach, suspense remains over the holding of the Olympic events since the August “test events” which had to be largely canceled: the quality of the water did not correspond to European standards based on two fecal bacteria, Escherichia coli and enterococci. Plan B consists of postponing the tests for a few days, but not changing location.
In addition to the flow measured at the beginning of June, four to five times faster than expected, making swimming dangerous, the volume of precipitation since November and the absence of sunlight, which kills bacteria, have an impact on water quality. . Star of these Olympics, the Seine will host the opening ceremony as well as the triathlon, swimming-marathon and paratriathlon events. Diving into the Seine in summer is one of the biggest benefits expected from these Games for the population, mobilizing 1.4 billion euros.