Olympic officials postpone men’s triathlon due to pollution in the Seine

By Homero De la Fuente, Kyle Feldscher and Chris Liakos, CNN

(CNN) — The men’s individual triathlon race at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has been postponed due to poor water quality levels in the River Seine, the sport’s governing body, World Triathlon, announced on Monday.

Originally scheduled for Tuesday, World Triathlon, its medical team, the International Olympic Committee and Paris city officials made the decision to postpone the men’s race to Wednesday.

“Paris 2024 and World Triathlon reiterate that their priority is the health of the athletes. The tests carried out in Seine today revealed water quality levels that did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held,” the press release said.

“Despite the improvement on the water quality levels in the last hours, the readings at some points of the swim course are still above the acceptable limits.”

Heavy rains battered Paris over the weekend, drenching Friday’s opening ceremony and raising concerns about water quality in the river, which usually declines after rainfall.

Training was canceled for a second straight day on Monday after water quality testing deemed the water unsafe for athletes, but organizers were confident at the time that Tuesday’s race would go ahead as planned.

French triathlon federation technical director Benjamin Maze told French media on Tuesday that “there was a bit of anger and disappointment on the part of the triathletes,” as they found out today’s event had been canceled.

“The events were supposed to take place at 8 a.m., so when we heard the news, they were already at breakfast eating some rice. Well, the pre-race meal as usual,” Maze told French network TF1.

“In this kind of situation, you have to, you have to accept your emotions. Once again, this disappointment, this anger and then to leave in a resilient mood, to leave in a much more positive mood. In any case, that’s what we encouraged them to do,” he added.

Maze said that that athletes are naturally “disappointed” by the developments since they have been preparing for this moment for years but added that it’s all part of the job.

“They know that they are doing an outdoor sport, even more so in triathlon. We knew that we had had problems with water pollution in recent days,” he said.

The decision to hold some swimming events in the famous river that splits Paris raised eyebrows when it was first announced. Swimming in the Seine has been illegal for a century but, in their desire to put the host city on full display, organizers worked up a plan to clean up the river so the world’s best athletes could use it during Paris 2024.

About $1.5 billion (1.4 billion Euros) has been spent trying to clean up the river ahead of the Games and Paris officials have made a big show of displaying its suitability. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the river earlier this month to display her confidence in the river’s water quality and promised to put a swimming pool in the river after the Games. The French sports minister has also gone for a dip in the Seine.

One of the key infrastructure projects designed to help tackle pollution has been a new rainwater storage basin – called the Austerlitz basin – which can hold 20 Olympic swimming pools worth of water, according to a statement from Paris 2024.

Following rainy weather on June 17 and 18, the basin filled to 80% capacity, successfully preventing 40,000 cubic meters (40 million liters) of wastewater and rainwater from being discharged into the Seine, according to the city of Paris.

But the water quality can change fast. Official data shows one-off rainfall events can quickly cause E. coli levels to spike again, and as recently as June 30 – following rain the previous day – E. coli levels increased to around 2000 CFU/100mL at Alexandra III Bridge, where the race is set to begin.

That’s double the level needed for “good” water quality, as per World Triathlon standards.

For much of the month before the games, E. coli levels were above acceptable levels, which could expose athletes to serious health concerns. If E. Coli levels are above 1000 CFU/100mL, the swimming leg of the triathlon will have to be cancelled, according to World Triathlon competition rules, unless the organization’s medical committee decides the race can go ahead.

The individual triathlon races will begin with a 1.5-kilometer swim, followed by a 40K bike race – passing by the Le Grand Palais and the Champs-Élysées – before finishing with a 10K run through the heart of the city.

A mixed team relay race involving four athletes – two men and two women – will start with each team member completing a 300-meter swim, followed by a 5.8K bike ride and 1.8K run.

The women’s triathlon is still scheduled for Wednesday and will take place prior to the men’s race, according to Olympic officials.

If the water levels don’t improve by Wednesday, the original contingency date remains in place for Friday, August 2.

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