PARIS (AP) — The swimming portion of training for the Olympic triathlon Water quality of the SeineBut Paris authorities said they were confident triathletes would be able to swim in the city’s famous waterways during the actual competition this week.
The men’s triathlon is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, the women’s on Wednesday. Triathletes would have had a chance to familiarise themselves with the course on Sunday, but organisers said they had cancelled the swimming events after consulting with the World Triathlon Federation, city and regional authorities and other decision-makers. Water quality testing.
The Seine’s water quality is closely linked to the weather. After heavy rains fell during the Olympics on Friday, Opening ceremony Rain continued to fall on Saturday, leading to the decision to cancel the test swim, but with no further rain forecast, officials said they hoped athletes would still get the unique experience of racing on the Seine.
“We are confident because we have seen the trends on the Seine over the past few weeks,” Paris Deputy Mayor Antoine Guillot said at a press conference on Sunday.
During similar rain events in the past, water quality returned to safe levels within 24 to 48 hours, he said.
Olympic organizers’ comments on Sunday reflected the confidence of Paris authorities.
“We remain very confident in the weather forecast for the next 48 hours and water quality will improve,” said Anne Deccan, a spokeswoman for Paris 2024. “Thanks to all the efforts made by public stakeholders, the water quality of the Seine has improved significantly.”
If concerns remain come race time, the first back-up plan will be to postpone the triathlon for a few days. If the water quality is still not sufficient, the swim portion of the triathlon will be canceled and athletes will only compete in the run and bike portions.
However, triathletes expressed a wish The water would be clean enough to swim in.
Swimming in the Seine has been banned for more than a century, mainly due to its poor water quality. Paris has spent 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to improve the river ahead of the Olympics, which will host the triathlon swimming events as well as a marathon swimming event later in the games.
Among the measures taken to improve water quality are: Construction of a giant basin The plan includes capturing excess storm water, preventing wastewater from entering rivers, upgrading sewer systems and improving wastewater treatment plants. Friday’s rains have put a reservoir built near the Gare d’Austerlitz station to use, filling it by about 20 percent, Guyot said.
Daily water quality tests in early June showed dangerous levels of the fecal bacteria known as E. coli, but have recently shown signs of improvement. Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo He swam in the river less than two weeks before the Olympic games began, fulfilling a promise to show that the long-polluted waterway was now clean enough to host swimming events.
Testing by Monitor Group Eau de Paris The latest data posted online showed water levels were tolerable as of Tuesday, but that was before the recent rains.
Paris authorities refused on Sunday to release more up-to-date data, saying each sports’ governing body had its own measurements and it was up to them to decide whether to hold events on the river.
World Triathlon officials said they agreed with Paris and Olympic officials that the river would be suitable for swimming on Tuesday and Wednesday.
World Aquatics spokesman Trinh Cous said the association would “reassess the Seine’s water quality” closer to the marathon swimming competition, which has training day on August 7.
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AP Sports Writers Jerome Pugmire, Pat Graham and Paul Newberry contributed to this report.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-Paris-Olympic-Games
