A Fluidion employee takes a sample of water from the Seine to test its quality, ahead of the swimming test event. BERTRAND GUAY / AFP
The water quality was judged “below acceptable standards” due to river pollution.
This is an unfortunate setback for the organization of swimming events in the Seine. The pre-Olympic swimming test competition, which was to take place on Sunday in the Seine, has been canceled due to pollution of the river, World Aquatics, the international swimming federation, announced on Sunday after consulting the latest analysis results from water at night.
Pointing to a water qualitybelow acceptable standards“, World Aquatics also believes that it “need to continue working with Paris 2024 and local authorities to ensure robust contingency plans are in place for next year“while the Olympic event is to take place in the Seine next summer.
Read alsoOlympic Games 2024: titanic works to make the Seine swimmable
Friday’s training had already been canceled and then the women’s race postponed from Saturday to Sunday in the hope that bacteriological analyzes would improve. The persistent and heavy rains for a week in Ile-de-France caused the sewers to overflow, which polluted the Seine.
The international federation isdisappointed that the water quality leads to the cancellation of this World Cup but the health of the athletes must always be our first prioritysaid Husain Al-Musallam the president of World Aquatics.
The Federation “understands that infrastructure projects will be completed and will significantly improve water quality for the Olympics next year“, adds World Aquatics, which says to stay”enthusiasticat the idea of seeing the swimmers take part in the race in the heart of the city.
These competitions in the Seine are also preludes to future swimming promised for 2025 by the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo (PS), on three sites while swimming has been prohibited there since 1923.
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