Olympic organizers canceled a swimming marathon test run on Tuesday due to the cleanliness of the Seine River, an issue they have already had to deal with multiple times during the games.
The cancellation comes amidst growing concerns over the amount of E. coli discovered in the Seine from stormwater funneling into the river, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
A statement released by World Aquatics said that testing has “fluctuated throughout the last week,” noting that the Tuesday morning test showed levels of E. coli that were “exceeding the maximum acceptable World Aquatics thresholds.”
“With a favourable weather forecast and forward-looking analysis, World Aquatics and Paris 2024 remain confident that the Marathon Swimming competitions on 8 and 9 August will proceed as planned,” continued the statement, per SwimSwam.
The women’s swim marathon is scheduled to take place on Thursday, while the men will take part in the marathon on Friday, per the New York Post.
Another marathon test run is currently scheduled to take place in the Seine on Wednesday morning. However, World Aquatics has yet to indicate whether there are any plans to cancel this test, according to On3.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo emphasized her belief that the Seine River is clean and more than acceptable for the athletes, explaining that she expects all events to proceed as scheduled.
“We will of course wait to get the results of the water quality, but the event will take place because there’s been a clear improvement of the weather these past few days,” she said, per the Associated Press.
“So I’m really proud and happy, and to all those who want to continue saying it’s impossible to depollute a river, I tell them, ’Yes, it’s possible, we did it,'” she said.
Paris has spent more than $1.5 billion to build new infrastructure to keep the Seine free of stormwater, though it remains to be seen whether this infrastructure was truly worth the investment.
Multiple athletes have already reported getting sick following their events in the Seine earlier in the games, with Olympians being forced to drop out of events due to illness.
Belgium’s Claire Michel was reportedly hospitalized over the weekend after contracting an E. coli infection just days after swimming in the Seine on July 31, resulting in the mixed competition triathlon team being unable to compete in Monday’s event, according to NPR.
Switzerland’s Adrien Briffod was also forced out of the mixed competition triathlon due to a stomach infection after competing in the Seine on the same day as Michel; however, Swiss officials stated that it was “impossible to say” whether the river caused the infection, per PBS.
