The Olympic men's triathlon was delayed several hours before the start of the race due to pollution in the Seine River.
The World Triathlon and Paris Games organizing committee have confirmed the race will be postponed by a day but there are still doubts about the safety of the river crossing, a question that has lingered for months in the run-up to the Olympics.
This is after the cancellation of training for the triathletes on Sunday due to pollution.
Heavy rains in the French capital on Friday and Saturday worsened the pollution of some parts of the river to “still exceed acceptable limits”, according to a statement issued by the World Triathlon.
The men's triathlon is scheduled for 10:45am Paris time (6:45pm AEST), after the women's event is scheduled for 8am (4pm AEST), however ” Both triathlons are subject to future water tests following the World Triathlon threshold for swimming,” the statement continued.
The next day of August 2 is also an option for the organizers.
AFP reported the rain on Friday and Saturday “led to sewage discharge”.
Ahead of the postponement, Paris 2024 and World Triathlon officials said they were “confident” pollution would subside before the start of the competition due to warm and sunny weather, which helps reducing the level of bacteria.
Temperatures will reach 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, prompting the weather chief to issue a weather warning for Paris and the surrounding area.
Cleaning up the Seine River in the run-up to the Olympics is a controversial topic as swimming has been banned in its waters for the past century due to pollution from sewage flowing into the river.
However, even though the river was said to be clean enough for swimming ahead of the Olympics — good enough for Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to start the Games — the question remains whether it will be safe for triathlon and marathon swimming events. held in the Seine.
French officials hoped the river triathlon and marathon, scheduled at Paris' most popular locations, would create a lasting image for the Games.
But it was expensive at 1.4 billion euros ($A2.3 billion) to clean up the river.
At the beginning of July due to a bad test in the river, the Olympic Games announced a place for the triathlon, as well as cutting the swimming part of the event and making only a duathlon.
“The rules of the International Triathlon Federation allow the event to change to the duathlon format as a last resort,” a spokesperson for Paris 2024 told Reuters in early July.
“On the contrary, in order to ensure that the marathon swimming event will take place, when our options for postponement are exhausted, we have decided to build a storage area in Vaires-sur-Marne (about 35km from Paris ).
“The competition site, already used for rowing and canoeing events, has all the necessary features to host these events if needed.”
However, the mayor of Paris Pierre Rabadan also announced last week that the river will be the only place for the best swimmers in the world this summer.
But an employee from the city's environmental department who agreed to speak to The US last week hit out at the organizing committee for the progress of the Seine.
“It's crazy that the IOC and the organization of the Olympic Games had this idea, and now they are pushing to hold the opening ceremony and some competitions in the Seine,” said the employee.
“The water is very bad, full of pollution and not suitable for any activity.
“Other than that, the level of chemicals, human waste and other pollutants is very high, so there are bacteria like E. coli everywhere.”
The US Sun also reported on an unnamed member of the Olympic organizing committee, who called the decision to hold an event on the Seine “horrific”.
“Having the opening ceremony and some competitions in the Seine River is the most stupid and irresponsible idea from the government, the IOC, and the Paris city hall,” said the organizers of the Olympics.
“We all know that water is dirty, disgusting, whatever bad word you want to use.
“The drains in most cities end there, the water is bad, it's not good to jump in and swim in it.”
“The 1.4 billion spent on cleaning the water was a waste, and people are very angry that this kind of money was thrown out the window because Macron and the city of Paris had this dream.”
With the AFP
