[imagesource:theweathernetwork]

About R26 billion had been poured into a river cleanup ahead of the Games, with Paris officials making a big show of displaying the Seine’s suitability.

But perhaps, nobody should be swimming in the Seine, for more reasons than just one.

For over 3,000 years, people have made their homes along the Seine, and they’ve been tossing their trash, human waste, and other unwanted items into the river for just as long. Legend even has it that Joan of Arc’s ashes were dumped into the Seine after she was burned at the stake in 1431. So the fact that it is miraculously clear (enough) now is a bit of a wobbly question mark.

Belgium has had to pull out of the mixed relay triathlon scheduled for today, while Switzerland is scrambling to shuffle its lineup after illness hit athletes from both nations following last week’s triathlon events.

Days after she swam in the River Seine, finishing at 38th in the women’s triathlon on Wednesday, Claire Michel fell ill, the National Olympic Committee said in a statement, causing Belgium to drop out of the race entirely. The Swiss team, meanwhile, had to replace Adrien Briffod, who had to withdraw due to a gastrointestinal infection.

It is unclear if Briffod’s infection is related to the Seine’s water quality, with Swiss Olympic Chief Medical Officer Hanspeter Betschart noting that “A survey of my colleagues from other countries has so far not revealed any accumulation of gastrointestinal illnesses among the athletes who started the individual race last Wednesday,” Betschart said.

Perhaps it only takes a few people though.

In June tests found the level of E. coli in the water was 10 times above the acceptable levels, according to CBS News. The E. coli bacteria is often linked to faecal matter and can cause diarrhoea, urinary tract infections, pneumonia and sepsis.

Naturally, the Paris 2024 organisers of the Games said in a statement that the water quality in the Seine was at a “very good” level on the morning of the individual triathlons, per CNN.

“Paris 2024 wishes to remind everyone that the health and wellbeing of athletes is our top priority. With respect to competitions held in the Seine, water quality tests are carried out daily, and the decision on whether to proceed with an event is taken by the International Federation World Triathlon, in coordination with Paris 2024, and based on the results and a range of (notably health) criteria,” the statement read.

Despite the two illnesses, World Triathlon and Paris 2024 have said in a Sunday statement that Monday’s mixed relay triathlon will proceed as planned, saying that the water quality in the Seine has improved over the past few hours.

A huge question is what would happen if the water is not all that good? Would the organisers even allow that to come out? Surely they all desperately need the water to be fine, and therefore it ‘always will be’.

Paris was hit with relentless heavy rains last weekend, soaking the opening ceremony and sparking worries about the river’s water quality, which typically worsens after a downpour. Training was called off for two days straight as tests revealed the water was unsafe for athletes. Despite this setback, organisers remained optimistic that the races would proceed as scheduled.

The athletes largely put their trust in organisers to ensure that the water quality is safe for them. Women’s silver medal winner Julie Derron of Switzerland said the athletes believed that the race on 31 July was safe based on the word of authorities.

“The swimming was fine during the race. We know that they took samples this morning. They take a lot of time to analyze, so we don’t know the results obviously. We all trust the authorities and the organizers that they keep us safe. And so we had a safe race today,” she said.

However, another triathlete shared her disgust at swimming in the Seine as she blasted the officials who claimed the polluted river was safe enough to swim in. Jolien Vermeylen, representing Belgium at this year’s Games, said she felt debris in the water during her 1500-metre swim in the iconic French river at the beginning of the women’s triathlon on Wednesday.

“While swimming under the bridge, I felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much,” she told Flemish TV channel VTM, according to Metro.

“The Seine has been dirty for a hundred years, so they can’t say that the safety of the athletes is a priority. That’s bulls–t!” she said.

Alongside concerns about the water quality, there were other new worries ahead of today’s triathlon mixed relay and Thursday and Friday’s marathon swim events: that being the currents, LA Times reports.

“I got scared quite a few times because the current carried us away a lot. It wasn’t so easy to swim in the Seine,” Cassandre Beaugrand of France, winner of the women’s triathlon, said of the currents, which were nearly three times as strong as normal.

“The current was a lot stronger,” agreed New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, the silver medalist in the men’s race. “It was technically the hardest swim we’ve ever done. Obviously you can see we were in there for a few extra minutes, so that was really tough.”

Our own, South Africa’s Vicky van der Merwe, who finished 46th in the swim leg of the women’s triathlon on Wednesday, said that it was actually rather “tough”, adding that “I literally almost died in that swim”.

“For all of us it was very uncertain what was going to happen. It’s not conditions that we are used to and it’s definitely a first for a lot of athletes.

In the triathlon, athletes swam just a mile in the river. But marathon swimmers will face more than six times that distance, making the river’s currents and bacteria levels even more critical factors to contend with.

[sources:latimes&cnn]