Paris Olympic organisers cancel Seine swim session over water fears
Organisers of the Olympic Games in Paris have cancelled another familiarisation session for marathon swimming in the Seine. The likely reason for this decision was the questionable quality of the river water. This follows a similar case in recent days.
"After the daily situation meeting this morning between Ville de Paris, Paris 2024 and World Aquatics, it has been decided that the familiarisation session to take place today, 6 August 2024, is cancelled," stated an official statement from the international swimming headquarters.
The official reason for this decision was not given, but the first sentence in the statement suggests that the water in the Seine still raises concerns for the Olympic Games organizers. Further information on this matter will be available later on Tuesday, August 6th. The team leaders' meeting and coaches' briefing schedule remain unchanged.
This is another problem caused by the water quality in the Seine during the Olympic Games in Paris. Due to elevated bacterial levels in the water, a training session before the swimming stage of the triathlon was cancelled, and the men's competition was postponed to another day.
Paris 2024. Another training session in the Seine cancelled. Organisers talk about "situation in the river"
Before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris, the authorities of the French capital spent nearly half a billion pounds on renovating the city’s sewage systems. It was promised that by the summer of 2025, the water in the Seine would be clean enough for residents to swim in.
In recent days, it has come to light that triathlete Claire Michel ended up in hospital after the Olympic event due to an E.coli infection. A few days earlier, she had been swimming in the Seine. Meanwhile, Tyler Mislawchuk, a Canadian triathlete, revealed that after crossing the finish line of the swimming stage in the Seine, he vomited up to 10 times.
