PARIS — Concerns about the water quality in the Seine River led officials to call off the swimming portion of an Olympic triathlon training session for a second straight day Monday.
Organizers overseeing the event at the Paris Games are optimistic that triathletes will be able to swim in the city’s famed waterway when the competition starts Tuesday.
The sport's governing body, World Triathlon, its medical team and city officials are banking on sunny weather and higher temperatures to bring levels of E. coli and other bacteria below the necessary limits to stage the swim portion of the race, which also includes biking and running.
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World Triathlon made the decision to cancel the swim workout early Monday following a meeting over water quality in the Seine, which is closely linked to the weather. Rain deluged Friday’s opening ceremony and showers persisted Saturday, forcing some tennis matches and the skateboarding competition to be postponed.
The representatives for Paris 2024 and triathlon’s international federation said tests conducted in the Seine on Sunday showed water quality levels leading into the training session that “did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held.” The delegation blamed the recent rain.
French sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra told French news channel CNEWS on Monday that officials are “absolutely serene about all of this.” The plans they put in place to control bacteria levels in the river have been effective, but the weather is beyond their control, she said.
The recent rain contributed to the water quality concerns, but she said she believed things would improve.
“I am confident in the fact that we will be able to be there tomorrow for the men’s triathlon event," she said.
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Organizers say the backup plan is to postpone the events and, if elevated bacteria levels persist, the swimming portion of the race will be abandoned and the athletes will compete in a duathlon.
Swimming in the Seine has been banned for over a century in big part because of the poor water quality. Organizers have invested 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to prepare the river ahead of the Olympics.
In addition to the swimming part of the men's triathlon Tuesday, the women's triathlon Wednesday and the triathlon mixed relay Monday, the Seine is expected be used for the marathon swimming competitions on Aug. 8 and 9.
Daily water quality tests in early June indicated unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria, followed by recent improvements. Some of the measures put in place to improve the water quality include the construction of a giant basin to capture excess rainwater and keep wastewater from flowing into the river, renovating sewer infrastructure and upgrading wastewater treatment plants.
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High levels of E. coli in water can indicate contamination from sewage. Most strains are harmless and some live in the intestines of healthy people and animals. But others can be dangerous. Even a mouthful of contaminated water can lead to diarrhea or infections in the urinary tract or in the intestines or other illnesses.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a very public swim in the river about two weeks before Olympic events were set to start, hoping to ease fears about the long-polluted waterway being clean enough to host swimming competitions.
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