If the Olympic Games are anything to go by, it’s to see the best athletes on the planet compete for gold, as well as to bring notoriety to the cities that host them. The Games are a great, huge, huge showcase. Paris knows that. That’s why it wanted to give some of its most iconic landmarks, including the Seine River, which hosted Friday’s opening ceremony. But it’s a shame that the river is making headlines for a reason that has little to do with sports: Pollution levels are so high that they’re already causing training and competitions to be postponed.

And France spent a huge amount of money to fulfill its promise that Paris would have a cleaner Seine after the Olympic Games.

An unlikely hero. France wanted the Seine River to be one of the main protagonists of the Olympic Games. In the worst possible way, it is. Despite the infrastructure created by the French authorities, the marketing campaigns to clean up its image and the huge investments made to have the river ready by 2024, the poor quality of the Seine waters continues to be talked about. And not just in the realm of speculation or suspicion. There are analyzes that confirm that its waters are not clean enough, which already interferes with nature. planning From the tests.

Triathlon exam postponed. The day began with the worst news for Paris authorities and the organisers of the Paris 2024 Olympics, after it was confirmed that rainfall on Friday and Saturday had damaged the water quality of the Seine River, with analyses showing “higher than acceptable values”. World Triathlon has decided to postpone the men’s triathlon competition due to restrictions on certain parts of the course. The competition was due to take place today, but organisers have decided to postpone it until tomorrow, Wednesday. It will start at 10.45, shortly after the women’s event, which was scheduled for 08.00.

(dark) shadows of the Seine. The truth is that the news caused a stir, although it was not a surprise. Sena’s poor quality caused the postponement of training scheduled for Sunday and Monday. The reason is exactly the same: the Olympic Organizing Committee, the International Triathlon Union and local authorities decided to cancel the training because “water quality levels” did not provide “sufficient guarantees” for athletes.

“Paris 2024 and World Triathlon reiterate that their priority is the health of athletes,” the organization emphasized. So there is a very important question on the horizon of the Olympic Games: what will happen in the coming days and in the pending events such as triathlon and open water swimming?

From triathlon to duathlon? “If bacteria levels remain too high on Wednesday morning, both the men’s and women’s races are likely to be postponed until August 2, the emergency day set aside for all events,” the organisation warned. RTVE also reported that the swimming test could be cancelled and the duathlon, which consists of cycling and racing, could be organised if water quality does not reach the required standards on Friday.

The Spanish public broadcaster cites Olalla Cernuda, communications director of the International Triathlon Federation, as its source, but she is not the only one to point in this direction. In the last few hours, chief sports reporter Martyn Ziegler has said: Timeswho moves forward

An ineffective “Palomares”. Proof of how much the doubts about the health of the Seine are overwhelming and how much they worry the French authorities is that just a few weeks ago, on July 17, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, decided to imitate Manuel Fraga’s famous baths in Palomares and took a dip in the Seine. If the Franco minister wanted to show that the region of Almeria was free of nuclear contamination, the Paris councillor aimed to dispel doubts about the cleanliness of the Seine. The president of the Games’ organizing committee and the governor of the Ile-de-France region took a dip in the river with him.

Hidalgo’s fall was covered in the media, but it did nothing to allay doubts about Sena’s quality. Shortly afterwards, France Information station revealed that on the day the councillor and other high-ranking officials jumped into the river, the concentration of E. coli bacteria was 985 CFU per 100 millilitres, above the limit of 900. Along Bercy, the river reached an even higher figure, 1,017.

What do the authorities say? They call for calm. In mid-July, the Paris City Council assured that the Seine waters met health standards on 10 of the 12 days analyzed. The president of the Olympic Organizing Committee insists that no alternative has been envisaged: “There is no solution to this problem” to move events “and assures that the triathlon will take place on the Seine as planned. “We are absolutely calm,” said Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra in an interview with CNEWS.

“The only uncontrollable element was the climate hazard with heavy and prolonged rainfall. That’s exactly what happened. But we have always said that we can handle such scenarios with a little delay. I am sure. We will be there for testing tomorrow.”

Why is this so important? Whether the Sena is in a position to host the Olympic events is not only important because of the importance of the Olympic Games and the global visibility they provide. If France is closely following what is happening on the Seine River, it is because it has allocated millions and millions of euros to create an infrastructure that will guarantee its health in terms of the Olympic event. It is said that 1.4 billion euros will be allocated to improve the infrastructure that houses the wastewater and thus control and minimize the discharge into the canal. In memory were the swimming tests that had to be postponed last year.

In May, Hidalgo inaugurated a storage tank specifically designed to keep the Seine clean. As stated at the time, the large tank is capable of holding the equivalent of twenty Olympic-sized swimming pools of dirty water, and its purpose is to purify this vast amount of liquid rather than divert it into the river through storm drains. Its enormous capacity should theoretically allow it to collect excess rain and prevent the river from receiving wastewater. The positive results of recent days actually follow the heavy rain recorded on Friday and Saturday, which marked the opening event.

And a promise awaits. The health of the Seine River is important for another important reason, in addition to its environmental importance. The idea is not just to make the Seine a place for triathlons or open-water swimming. The authorities’ goal is to return the Seine River, which has been unswimmable for more than a century, to Paris. This decision was made in 1923, largely because of the risks involved in river traffic, but it has also been noted for its poor health.

Hidalgo actually dived near the City Hall, one of three places that will be opened to the public in 2025. The analyses of the Olympic tests further expand the doubts about the future in which the inhabitants of Paris themselves can enjoy the river safely.

Image | John’s Tower (Unsplash)

In Xataka | “I shit in the Seine”: With less than two months to go before the Olympic Games, Paris has a big problem with the river