The organizers of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games are facing a pretty horrible problem as the Olympic triathlon swimming training session has been canceled for the second consecutive day due to poor water quality in the Seine River.
It has been illegal to swim in the Seine River for over a century due to poor water quality and pollution, but Paris spent $1.5 billion in an effort to clean the water for the triathlon and marathon swimming events. However, Recent heavy rains have caused bacteria levels to spike, leading to this cancelation.
“Following a meeting on water quality held [Monday] … a joint decision was taken to cancel the swim leg of the triathlon familiarization which was due to be held on 29 July at 8am,” read a joint statement from Paris 2024 organizers and governing body World Triathlon, according to Yahoo Sports.
“Paris 2024 and World Triathlon reiterates that the priority is the health of the athletes. The tests carried out in the Seine [Sunday] revealed water quality levels that in the view of the international federation, World Triathlon, did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held.”
This presents a pretty significant problem. While the cancelations on Sunday and Monday were just training sessions, the men’s triathlon competition is set to begin on Tuesday with the women’s competition set for Wednesday. We’ll have to see whether or not the river is suitable enough to swim in by then.
