- Title: Pre-Olympics swimming event at risk as storms dirty Seine river
- Date: 4th August 2023
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (AUGUST 4, 2023) (REUTERS) FLOATING INSTALLATIONS IN RIVER SEINE FOR CANCELLED TRAINING FOR PRE-OLYMPICS EVENT TRASH NEAR FLOATING INSTALLATIONS FLOATING INSTALLATIONS ALEXANDER III BRIDGE STATUE WITH SEINE RIVER TRASH FLOATING IN SEINE RIVER POSTER READING: 'OPEN WATER SWIMMING WORLD CUP' (English) PEOPLE ON ALEXANDER III BRIDGE SEINE RIVER WITH EIFFEL TOWER IN THE BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF ENGINEER MAELYS HEMON COLLECTING SEINE RIVER WATER TO RUN QUALITY TEST HEMON POURING SEINE RIVER WATER IN JAR (SOUNDBITE) (French) ENGINEER MAELYS HEMON, SAYING: "Quality varies greatly depending on the weather. Indeed, depending on the weather, sometimes we can have better or worse water quality, which more or less ensures the quality and safety of swimmers." VARIOUS OF ENGINEER AURELIE LEMAIRE PUTTING SEINE RIVER WATER SAMPLES INTO TUBES BOX FILLED WITH TUBES (SOUNDBITE) (French) ENGINEER AURELIE LEMAIRE, SAYING: "If it's again bad results like we've had previously, obviously to ensure the swimmers' safety, we will have to continue with the same restrictions." SEINE RIVER WITH FLOATING INSTALLATIONS FOR TEST EVENT VARIOUS OF FLOATING INSTALLATIONS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGINEER AURELIE LEMAIRE, SAYING: "So, next year it will be the same. It will also need to do the tests and to check the quality to assure the safety of the athletes in order to do the competition." FLOATING INSTALLATIONS WITH ALEXANDER III BRIDGE IN THE BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF RIVERBOAT FULL OF TOURISTS ON THE SEINE RIVER (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMERICAN TOURISTS, LISA LARSON AND GLEN KUNDERT, SAYING: LISA LARSON: "Actually, it's not surprising. We were wondering when we came and we did take a cruise on the Seine, how they could possibly get the water clean enough and safe enough for swimmers in a short period of time also with all the visitors still coming." GLEN KUNDERT: "I think it would be an ambitious project. You know, it's a worthwhile undertaking but I don't know if financially and technologically that it could be done." VARIOUS OF RIVERBOATS SEINE RIVER WITH EIFFEL TOWER IN THE BACKGROUND
- Embargoed: 18th August 2023 13:50
- Keywords: France Olympic Games Paris 2024 Seine river pollution swimming
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Europe,Olympics,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA001227804082023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Participants of this weekend's Open Water Swimming World Cup were barred from a Friday morning (August 4) training session in Paris' river Seine as heavy rainfall caused water quality to dip below safe health standards, the French Swimming Federation (FFN) said.
The women's 10-kilometer race on Saturday (August 5) - a qualifying event for marathon swimming at the Paris 2024 Olympics - is still scheduled to go ahead, pending a new river water quality test on Friday evening.
Engineers Aurelie Lemaire and Maelys Hemon said that if the water quality wasn't good enough, the weekend's events could be cancelled to keep the athletes safe and healthy. The same restrictions would apply during the 2024 Olympics if the weather turns bad before the trials. It could threaten the marathon swimming and triathlon competitions.
The city has been working on clean-up efforts to make the Seine swimmable again, as it was during the 1900 Paris Olympics more than a century ago. But heavy rain causes the Parisian sewage system to overflow and be discharged into the river, polluting it with fecal bacteria E.coli and Enterococcus.
(Production: Louise Dalmasso, Ardee Napolitano) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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