2023-08-07 11:00:00
ESCHERICHIA COLI – The sporting event was to be a rehearsal for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris… However, the marathon swimming World Cup scheduled for the Seine this weekend has been canceled. The last exceptional and persistent rainfall in Île-de-France overflowed the sewers, whose untreated wastewater ended up in the river. Result ? An impromptu bacteriological pollution which this Sunday August 6 forced the organizing committee of the Paris 2024 Olympics, the City and the sports federations concerned, not to let swimmers dive in the center of the capital. This failure worries one year before the holding of the three Olympic open water swimming events (marathon, triathlon and para-triathlon): near the Alexandre-III bridge, everything was to take place under the same conditions as scheduled for next summer.
The French capital was to host the Open Water Swimming World Cup on August 5 and 6, 2023. A rehearsal, exactly one year before the Paris Olympics in 2024. An opportunity for swimmers to discover the future Olympic course and compete, over a distance of 10 kilometers, between the Alexandre III and Alma bridges. The day before this competition, that is to say Friday, was reserved for training. According to the official schedule, the swimmers were the first to enter the race on Saturday before giving way to the swimmers on Sunday.
“Disappointment” among the organizers
Doubt was already hovering around the maintenance or cancellation of this World Cup, due to persistent rains in the French capital. Throughout the month of July, Paris received 107 millimeters of rain, a level “exceptional” which has not been reached for more than 20 years and which exceeds the seasonal norm of 59.3mm. The World Aquatics (international federation) and the French Swimming Federation (FFN) first decided to cancel the familiarization day scheduled for Friday August 4. The announcement was made in a communiqué by Pierre Rabadan, Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of Sport, the Olympic & Paralympic Games and the Seine. The swimmers’ event has also been postponed to Sunday.
A meeting between the organizing committee, the city of Paris and the sports federations on the night of Saturday to Sunday, dedicated to the study of the latest water analyses, sounded the death knell for the competition as a whole. The decision was made not to have the swimmers dive from the Alexandre-III bridge on Sunday morning. “We are all disappointed this morning, first for the athletes and for the organization of the event. It was played a few hours away”a declared M. Rabadan.
The water analyses, which date back 24 hours, were inconclusive. The presence rate of the Escherichia Coli bacterium exceeded the limits, reaching 1,300 (Colony forming unit/100ml) instead of the maximum rate of 1,000 CFU imposed by World Aquatics to authorize competition in natural waters. “We will know on Monday (today, editor’s note) if finally at time T, that is to say at the time at which the competition was to start on Sunday, the quality of the water was swimmable (.. .) We have instantaneous readings but which are not part of the analysis process of the international federation which tell us that to date, this morning, the quality of the water was good and the figure was below 1,000 “added the deputy of Anne Hidalgo.
The president of this international federation, Husein Al-Musallam, Express on “disappointment”, recalling that “the health of athletes must always be our first priority”. The FFN describes a decision “irrevocable and heartbreaking”. “If they suspected it – some had not even prepared their bags for the competition – the sentence is irrevocable and heartbreaking”we read in a communiqué. The organizing committee of the Olympics, he was rather reassuring. “The quality of the water will continue to be carefully monitored, in the confident hope – based on current weather forecasts – that top athletes will be able to compete in the Seine, during the Triathlon Test Event and Para Triathlon scheduled for August 17-20.”
The World Aquatics warns, the FFN and the city of Paris reassure
Despite the failure of this test, one year from the marathon swimming events, the FFN says there is nothing to worry about for August 2024. “With the historic episode that we have just had, we will see what we can change and improve. The models show us that with what is going to be put in place, this will have a major effect on the quality of the Seine. I am confident”, says Brigitte Légaré, responsible for the 24 sports that will take place in the center of Paris within the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games. The press release from the French federation mentions the facilities provided for this purpose, such as the installation of a storm basin in Austerlitz and storage basins for rainwater in Paris.
Another failure in the triathlon events scheduled for August 17-20 would be very worrying this time around. If the World Aquatics “understands that infrastructure projects will be completed and will significantly improve water quality for the Olympics next year”she insists in her press release on the need to “continue to work with Paris 2024 and local authorities to ensure robust contingency plans are in place for next year.”
The issue is as crucial for the 2024 Olympics as the city of Paris and its future, since Mayor Anne Hidalgo has been promising for many weeks that Parisians will be able to swim in the Seine from 2025.
Three bathing sites in the Seine have been selected: Bras Marie, Grenelle and Bercy. A development that is part of its plan to combat high heat, announced last June, according to which Paris could be faced with summer temperatures of 50° by 2050.
From 2025, we will be able to swim in the Seine thanks to the Games!
The 3 bathing sites in the Seine retained: Bras Marie (Paris Centre), Grenelle (15th) and Bercy (12th).
My assistants have already taken a first dive! It will soon be your turn and also mine ???? pic.twitter.com/Hh2dGxSgPF
— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) July 9, 2023
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