Olympic organizers have postponed the men’s triathlon race originally scheduled for Tuesday morning, admitting that the River Seine remains unsafe for swimming.
Organizers postponed the men’s race until Wednesday, which is now scheduled to take place after the end of the women’s triathlon, scheduled for the same day.
“Despite the improvement in water quality levels in recent hours, readings at some points along the swimming route are above acceptable levels,” it reads. a statement about X from World Triathlonthe international governing body for sport at the Olympics.
The statement said organizers could postpone the race to August 2 as a contingency if necessary.
“Paris 2024 and the Triathlon World Cup reiterate that their priority is the health of the athletes,” says the statement, referring to the organizers of the games.
Before the Olympics, the city of Paris and local water agencies spent about $1.5 billion to clean up the Seine, modernizing an antiquated sewer system that overflows into the river when it is flooded by heavy rains. As part of the improvements, the city built a huge underground basin to store rainwater for treatment.
The hope was to leave the river clean enough for swimming, but efforts were not enough.
The majority recently published monitoring reportfrom tests carried out from July 17th to 23rd, showed that E. coli levels increased on the Pont Alexandre III bridge, where athletes must start and finish individual triathlon eventsafter a day of heavy rain on July 20th. At its peak, contamination was at least twice the level normally considered acceptable under Rules of the world triathlon competition.
Routine monitoring in the months leading up to the games similarly showed that levels of E. coli – an indicator of fecal matter – regularly rose to unsafe levels, especially after storms sent runoff from the streets of Paris into the river and increased the chances of sewage entering the water.
Unsafe levels of fecal matter in swimming water can cause gastrointestinal illness. It is a common problem in urban waterways around the world.
Sunlight can inactivate bacteria, so organizers of the Paris Olympics expected bright, sunny conditions. If the weather had cooperated, the Seine’s wastewater system would not have been tested by high flows and the sun would have had time to do its work.
But instead, Paris was drenched with rain during Friday’s opening ceremony, and the rains continued until Saturday.
Organizers canceled triathlon swimming training on Sunday and Monday because the Seine remained very dirtyand then chose to move the actual event by at least one more day.
Worrying weather is approaching that could disrupt these plans and other events as well: Meteo France, the country’s meteorological agency, is predicting scattered storms starting already on Tuesday afternoon in Paris.
Other events depend on improving conditions: the mixed relay triathlon is scheduled for August 5th local time, followed by the marathon swimming events on August 8th and 9th.
Most strains of E. coli are harmless, but their presence is a sign that other potentially harmful bacteria are present.
“A high level of bacteria means there is a lot of poop in the water, and poop carries germs that make people sick,” Daniel Nidzgorski, an ecologist who monitors water quality in the U.S., told NBC News last month after a The report showed that the Seine remained very polluted. for athletes to compete.
Swimming has not been allowed in the Seine for around a century due to contamination, and many people remain skeptical that authorities will be able to clean it in time for the Games.
Last year, Olympic organizers planned to conduct testing triathlon events on the Seine to ensure the competitions ran smoothly, but several of these events were canceled after the river failed pollution tests in August.
Then, in April, the non-profit Surfrider Foundation Europe shared independent results from six months of testing, which showed that almost all samples exceeded allowable levels of contamination.
Regular monitoring by Eau de Paris, the city’s main water supplier, showed that E. Coli levels increased following storms during May, June and July.
However, to showcase the cleanliness of the river, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Paris 2024 Olympic Games President Tony Estanguet and other officials took a ceremonial dip in the Seine earlier this month.
Swimming occurred when levels were above safe limits, according to the Associated Press.
NBC News is a division of NBCUniversal, which holds U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032, including the 2024 Paris Games.
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