Concerns over the water quality of the Seine have continued into the Paris 2024 Olympics, with a pre-race triathlon event there cancelled Sunday.
Organizers said they nixed the swimming leg of the triathlon familiarization scheduled for Sunday morning after a meeting about water quality among authorities tasked with carrying out water quality tests. That included representatives of World Triathlon, as well as city and regional authorities.
Swimming in the Seine has been banned for over a century in big part due to poor water quality. Organizers have invested $1.5 billion US to prepare the Seine for these Games, and the government has said the river would be clean enough to hold events, including the swimming portion of the triathlon and the marathon swimming event.
Daily water quality tests in early June indicated unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria, followed by recent improvements. Parisian Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a famous dip 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.
Heavy rain during the opening ceremony revived concerns over whether the long-polluted waterway will be clean enough to host swimming competitions, since water quality is deeply linked with the weather in the French capital.
Since 2015, organizers have invested heavily to prepare the Seine for the Olympics and to ensure Parisians have a cleaner river after the Games. The plan included constructing a giant underground water storage basin in central Paris, renovating sewer infrastructure and upgrading wastewater treatment plants.
Triathleletes have expressed hope that the waters would be clean enough for them to swim in.
“Hopefully we get to swim, bike and run because I don’t swim this much to just run and bike,” Spanish triathlete Alberto Gonzalez said.
Australian cyclist undergoes surgery after fall during Olympic time trial
Australian cyclist Lucas Plapp underwent abdominal surgery overnight at a Paris hospital following a hard crash on rain-slicked roads during the Olympic time trial on Saturday, the Australian team said.
AusCycling, Australia’s cycling governing body, confirmed the procedure early Sunday. No other details were available.
Plapp was among the last riders to start on the 32.4-kilometre course and was laying down a medal-worthy ride at the first time check, trailing then-leader and eventual bronze medallist Wout van Aert by just two seconds. But when Plapp reached a technical portion of the course, his bike slid out from under him and he crashed hard onto the pavement.
The crash was not shown on the race broadcast, but AusCycling said Plapp was conscious and moving afterward. He was lifted into the team vehicle and taken to the hospital for precautionary scans, and later he required the abdominal procedure.
“Plapp slid under a barrier fence shortly after passing the first checkpoint approximately 14 kilometres into the 32-kilometre course,” AusCycling said. “His parents and an Australian team doctor were at the hospital with him.”
The 23-year-old Plapp, who won bronze at the Tokyo Games as part of the Australian pursuit team, is the reigning national time trial and road race champion. He was supposed to ride alongside Simon Clarke in support of teammate Michael Matthews in the Olympic road race next Saturday.
Remco Evenepoel won the time trial, giving Belgium two riders on the podium, while Filippo Ganna of Italy finished second. But both the women’s and men’s races were marred by a series of crashes on a course made treacherous by the rain.
Among those who fell was American rider Chloe Dygert, the reigning time trial world champion, who remounted her bike and rallied to finish third behind gold medallist Grace Brown of Australia and Anna Henderson of Britain.
“If we were in Britain, these (conditions) would be absolutely perfect. The roads are better to take corners on. When we’re in Spain, France or Italy, I feel like it’s a little more icy,” said Dygert, who still plans to compete in the road race and team pursuit this Olympics. “But for sure it definitely plays a factor into the race itself. And I think it totally changed the ballgame.”
Source Agencies
