Triathlon cancels Olympic swim training for second straight day due to poor water quality in Seine
The water quality in the Seine River remained a concern on Monday as officials called off the swimming portion of an Olympic triathlon training session for a water quality in the Seine River.
Event organisers overseeing the event at Paris 2024 are optimistic that triathletes will be able to swim in the city's famed waterway when the competition starts on Tuesday (Wednesday in Australia).
The sport's governing body World Triathlon and its medical team, along with city officials, are banking on sunny weather and higher temperatures over the course of the next 36 hours to improve the water quality and bring it below the necessary limits to stage the swim portion of a race that also includes biking and running.
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World Triathlon made the decision to cancel the swim workout early on Monday following a meeting over water quality.
The Seine's water quality has once again been deemed too poor for triathletes to train in. AP
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 said this was due to the recent rain that impacted Friday's opening ceremony.
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Swimming in the Seine has been banned for more than a century in big part because of the poor water quality.
Organizers have invested €1.4 billion euros (approx. $2.3 billion AUD) to prepare the river ahead of the Olympics.
In addition to the swimming part of the triathlon on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Seine will be used for the marathon swimming competitions on August 8 and 9.
All the best photos snapped at the highly-anticipated Paris 2024 opening ceremony
All the best photos snapped at the highly-anticipated Paris 2024 opening ceremony
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.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo went for a famous swim in the river less than two weeks before Olympic events were set to start, fulfilling a promise to show that the long-polluted waterway was clean enough to host swimming competitions.
