Due to the fact that the water of Seine is highly polluted, the men’s triathlon at the Paris Olympics scheduled for Tuesday had been postponed. The race has however been moved back to Wednesday starting at 10:45am (0845 GMT) while women’s event will be held on that day starting from 8.00 am. This development creates unknowns for athletes and organizers concerning their health issues.
After last Friday and Saturday’s rain, which led to pollution of the river, organizers hoped that there would be an improvement in water quality. Although some improvements were observed, World Triathlon claimed that some sections of the swimming track remained above permissible levels of water contamination.
“The readings at certain points on the swimming course are still above tolerance even with a slight improvement in water quality levels over a couple of hours,” said Reuters quoting World Triathlon early Tuesday. It should be noted that “the priority for Paris 2024 and World Triathlon remains the welfare and safety of athletes.”
In case bacterial pollution is still high by Wednesday morning, both men’s and women’s races may be pushed ahead two days later until Friday which is a contingency plan if it does not go as planned. On Friday though, if water quality continues deteriorating then they will remove swim leg hence making it into a duathlon. In addition, there is another provision for mixed triathlon relay competition whose other dates are expected to fall on August 6th instead of August 5th.
Paris authorities have put in place wastewater infrastructure worth €1.4bn ($1.51bn) aimed at minimizing sewage discharges into Seine River. The purpose behind this move is to enable people swim in the river as this becomes one among notable legacy projects associated with these games in future times. Hidalgo swam in the river early this month to demonstrate its improved safety measures amid criticism from doubting Thomases.
However, predicting water quality on race day has been a challenge due to the variability of its nature. When it rains, the river becomes highly contaminated with dangerous bacteria such as E. coli and enterococci. One of 55 men’s triathlon participants, Seth Rider shared his approach towards minimizing risks associated with potential bacterial exposure.
“I mean, we know that there’s going to be some E. coli exposure,” he told reporters at a press conference on Saturday.“So I just try to increase my E. coli threshold by exposing myself to a bit of E. coli in your day-to-day life.”
The Olympic triathlon course in Paris was designed to represent famous places in the city where the Seine swim is one of them. The swimming stage will begin from a pontoon situated close to Alexandre III bridge for athletes. Afterwards they are expected to cycle and run past iconic landmarks including Grand Palais and Musée d’Orsay before ending back at start point of the competition. Those who cross the finish line atop this bridge would have behind them stone columns crowned with gilt-bronze statues representing Pegasus and beyond that lies magnificent dome of Invalides monument.
