The soap opera of the pollution of the Seine, with a view to the organization of several events of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, is on the way to becoming a big headache for the organization. Should we indeed fear postponements of competitions during the next Olympic Games in a year? Once again, swimming events had in any case to be canceled this Saturday morning during the test event paratriathlon, due to pollution of the river. Two weeks after the failure to organize the open water swimming test events, this new episode raises questions about the Olympic Games calendar.
Potentially, the agenda could be suspended with the changing readings of a capricious river supposed to welcome bathing sites in Paris for the general public from 2025. The reason for the cancellation is the same as at the beginning of August: Escherichia Coli bacteria (E . coli) whose rate measured on a sample from the day before exceeded the authorized threshold. “The laboratory sample had a slightly higher rate” than the level allowed by the regulations of World Triathlon, said this Saturday the sports deputy of the town hall of Paris Pierre Rabadan during a press point.
The triathlon has never before been transformed into a duathlon at the Olympics
“He was slightly above 1,000 (UFC per 100 ml)”, he further explained alongside the boss of the organizing committee Tony Estanguet. It is already a rate above the threshold of 1,000 CFU per 100 ml, set by World Aquatics, which had prevented the holding of the open water swimming competition. Consequence this Saturday: in accordance with the regulations of the International Federation concerning the quality of the water, the paratriathlon events starting from the Alexandre III bridge have been reduced to a duathlon, namely only cycling and running. An alternative to which Tony Estanguet had already opened the door on Thursday, at the end of the women’s race for the able-bodied. “It’s happened before,” he said.
But never again at the Olympic Games, where triathlon certainly appeared recently (in 2000 in Sydney). “We will also have the possibility of staggering the days of competition to have the best water quality window. We therefore have a good level of confidence today to hold a triathlon next year”, judges the president of the organizing committee of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. After the women’s races on Thursday then the men’s races on Friday organized without problem, the situation raises questions.
Triathletes have ‘seen much worse waters’
“The recent deterioration in the quality of the water of the Seine, if proven, has no identified cause, recognizes the prefect Pierre-Antoine Molina, secretary general for public policies at the prefecture of the region of Ile -of France. We are actively seeking this cause. “Because this time, there were no storms that could explain a discharge of wastewater into the Seine, a problem that must be resolved by infrastructures still under construction such as the Austerlitz basin, which will make it possible to store water rainwater (50,000 m3), which will be operational in 2024.
In any case, no worries among the triathletes: the French headliners, Cassandre Beaugrand on Thursday, then the reigning world champion Léo Bergère the next day, repeated that they had “known much worse waters” than those of the Seine. Among the French triathletes who swam in the river on Friday, the day the sample exceeding the threshold was taken, none suffered from any illness, assured the national technical director Benjamin Maze. This was also confirmed by one of the triathletes.
“We were in test mode, we will continue to progress”
It remains to be seen whether they will be able to compete in a real triathlon during the mixed relay scheduled for Sunday at 8 a.m. The decision must be taken overnight from Saturday to Sunday after a meeting around 3 a.m., announced World Triathlon Secretary General Antonio Arimany. In any case, there is no question of a plan B in a year for the Olympic Games, maintains Tony Estanguet: “There is no solution for moving the event. The triathlon and open water swimming will take place in the Seine next year”.
“We wanted from the start to promote the city of Paris during these Games, insists Tony Estanguet. We have an absolutely extraordinary site, one of the most beautiful of these Paris Olympics. The athletes told us. We want to preserve this ambition and we are very confident today about all the means being put in place. We were in test mode, we will continue to progress between now and next year. “It would indeed be a fiasco to see the triathlon turn into a duathlon on D-Day.
