The Seine has been the talk of this year’s Olympics and one athlete has lifted a lid on the gross reality of competing in the river.
The Seine has been too dirty for swimming all week after Paris was deluged by rain during the opening ceremony of the Games, with the equivalent of a month’s rain falling over 36 hours.
The storms overwhelmed the city’s sewerage system despite a recent 1.4 billion euros ($A2.3 billion) upgrade, leading to discharges of untreated waste water that sent E.Coli bacteria levels spiking.
While the event went ahead, Belgian athlete Jolien Vermeylen said she would rather not think about the quality of the water.
“As I swam under the bridge, I felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think too much about,” Vermeylen said.
“The Seine has been dirty for a hundred years, so they can’t say that the safety of athletes is a priority. It’s bulls***.”
It comes after Belgian triathlete Marten Van Riel said similar, claiming if the safety of athletes was the priority “this event would have been moved to another location a long time ago”.
“We are just puppets in a puppet show,” he said.
“Duathlon is no triathlon and changing the day like that, in the middle of the night, is disrespectful to the years of preparation of the athletes and to all our fans that were going to watch live or on television. What an appearance for triathlon on the biggest scene!”
The triathlon in the Seine followed by marathan swimming next week were both intended to highlight efforts made by French authorities to clean up the waterway, which has been off-limits for Parisian swimmers since 1923.
Due to an exceptionally wet spring and early summer, the Seine had been consistently failing tests until the start of July.
Levels of the E.Coli — a key indicator of faecal matter — had been 10 times higher than authorised triathlon limits on some days in June.
More rain had threatened to force another delay to the schedule overnight on Tuesday-Wednesday, but deputy Paris mayor Antoine Guillou told AFP that had been no discharges from the sewers.
“The rain was quite light and low in quantity,” Guillou, who is in charge of public sanitation, told AFP.
But water charity Surfrider said it remained “worried that athletes began their triathlon race this morning at 8am even though it rained for several hours before the start,” adding that it awaited the publication of full resullts.
“I’m definitely going to be visiting the bathroom later,” South African Jamie Riddle, who finished 25th, joked to reporters. “I swallowed gallons and gallons of water, so that’s going to be a fun, post-race party.”
LIV STAR HITS OUT AT UNFAIR OLYMPIC QUALIFYING RULES
Chile’s Joaquin Niemann hit out at the qualifying criteria for the men’s Olympic golf event after a strong first round on Thursday, saying it was unfair on him and other LIV players.
The official world rankings are used to determine who qualifies for the Olympics, but events on the breakaway LIV Golf circuit are still ineligible for points.
Several big names from the Saudi-backed tour are missing the Paris Games, most controversially reigning US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau.
Niemann played in a handful of European Tour-sanctioned tournaments earlier this year to ensure he remained as one of the leading two Chileans in the rankings to qualify.
“No,” he said when asked if the qualifying system was fair.
“I don’t think it’s fair… Because you don’t have the best players right now, I feel like.”
Niemann was given exemptions to play in the Masters and the US Open earlier this year following a brilliant start to the season which delivered two LIV wins and the Australian Open title.
Victory at Le Golf National this week would give him a place at all four majors next year as well as a gold medal.
The 25-year-old started well, making five birdies and an eagle in a five-under-par first round of 66.
“If you didn’t have those four majors for a win, I would have the same intensity,” he said. “I will have the same motivation to win.
“I feel like this is the Olympics and (I’ve) got to focus more on winning medals than winning my way into the majors.”
Other LIV players competing in the Olympic tournament include Spain’s two-time major champion Jon Rahm and Niemann’s Chile teammate Mito Pereira.
EPIC TENNIS SHOWDOWN LOOMS
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz overcame crushing humidity on Wednesday to stay on course for an Olympic final showdown as Rafael Nadal played possibly his final match at Roland Garros.
Djokovic, seeking a first Olympic title, defeated German left-hander Dominik Koepfer 7-5, 6-3, becoming the first man to reach four singles quarter-finals at the Games.
Alcaraz brushed aside Roman Safiullin, the Russian playing in Paris as a neutral, 6-4, 6-2.
Nadal, who has won 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros, exited Paris after he and Alcaraz were defeated in the men’s doubles, going down 6-2, 6-4 to US pair Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.
The 38-year-old Nadal, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, walked off Court Philippe Chatrier applauding all four sides of the stadium.
He was later asked whether he had played at Roland Garros for the final time.
“Maybe, I don’t know. If that’s the last time, for me it’s an unforgettable feeling and emotions,” said the injury-plagued former world number one whose ranking has slumped to 161.
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The 37-year-old Djokovic has only ever collected a bronze at the Olympics, at Beijing 16 years ago, but he was rarely troubled by his 70th-ranked opponent.
“Bringing a medal to Serbia is always a big goal of mine,” said Djokovic, who has won three of his 24 Grand Slam crowns on Paris’s famous red clay.
Djokovic, who breezed past old rival Nadal in the second round, goes on to face 11th-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Djokovic boasts an 11-2 head-to-head record over Tsitsipas, including a victory from two sets down in the 2021 French Open final.
“I’ve erased it,” said Tsitsipas when asked to recall that heartbreaking defeat.
French Open and Wimbledon champion Alcaraz has also yet to drop a set in Paris and coasted by 66th-ranked Safiullin in 90 minutes.
“The conditions were really tough with the heat and it was really humid,” said Alcaraz.
‘LOW-EMISSIONS’ FOOD LEAVES ATHLETES CRAVING MEAT
An ambition from Paris Olympics organisers to cut the carbon footprint of catering at this year’s eco-friendly Games has run into a problem — the huge appetites of meat-loving athletes.
At a trial run at the Olympics village restaurant in June, Games supremo Tony Estanguet stressed how Paris 2024 was aiming to cut the average carbon emissions per meal in half compared to previous Olympics by offering more vegetarian food.
Promising not to disappoint visitors to a country famed for its gastronomy, the organising committee also took on several Michelin-starred chefs as advisors to work alongside its food contractor, French multinational Sodexo.
But the first few days in the village, located in a deprived suburb north of Paris, saw demands for more meat, eggs and bigger helpings as athletes looked to replenish themselves after gruelling competitions or gym sessions.
“The only issue would be the food shortages,” swimmer Julio Horrego from Honduras told AFP on Monday when asked about life in the village.
“It’s a bit surprising.”
Horrego, who says he eats up to 5000 calories per day, said he turned up for breakfast at 10.30am on Sunday only to find there were no eggs left.
“If you arrive a bit late, then there aren’t enough,” he said at the entrance to the village, which is buzzing with activity and can house 10,500 athletes in its roughly 40 low-rise towers.
Romanian rower, Iulian Chelaru, gave a clear answer when asked if there was anything missing: “Meat”.
“We didn’t have enough meat, but now it’s solved,” he added.
German swimmer Lucas Matzerath, 24, said that the size of helpings was also increasing.
“At the start there were not very big portions for people, but it’s improved now,” he said.
The food hall includes six different dining areas offering meals from around the globe, with half of the 50 dishes available each day being 100-percent vegetarian.
“We enjoy our greens, so it’s not a problem,” Canadian beach volleyball player Sophie Bukovec said as she left the complex.
“Some of the athletes are big meat-eaters. They’re trying to sort it out. There is protein you just have to know where to find it.”
Sodexo told AFP on Wednesday said it had adjusted its menus.
“Eggs and grilled meat dishes have been in high demand, so volumes have been increased significantly,” a spokeswoman for the group said.
“For several days now the quantities offered are in line with demand.”
The vegetarian-heavy food offering is not the only difference in the Paris village compared with previous editions, leading some critics to brand it “woke”.
The housing complex, which will be converted into apartments after the Games, was built without airconditioning and instead has a renewable underfloor geothermal cooling and heating system.
Some teams such as the US, Great Britain, the Netherlands or France have opted to install portable coolers for their athletes, but others are having to do without, with temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday above 30 degrees Celsius with high humidity.
“I suffer in the hot weather, but up until now I’ve slept well with just a fan,” said Italian beach volleyball player Marta Menegatti.
“AC would be better for recovery though.”
Other have found the innovative Japan-made beds used in the village tricky to adjust to.
Their bases are made from cardboard and the mattresses from recycled plastic including fish nets, leading some to joke in the past that they were “anti-sex” and designed to stop athletes jumping between the sheets.
“My bed is too hard, it’s not the best,” Spanish handballer Lysa Tchaptchet told AFP, words echoed by Polish fencer Martyna Swatowska-Wenglarczyk.
Others were enthusiastic about the efforts made by Paris 2024 organising committee to be more sustainable, including by cutting emissions and making sure all of the equipment, including the beds, can be recycled or re-used afterwards.
“I really enjoy it and like what they’ve done in the village,” Signe Bro, a Danish swimmer, told AFP.
“It does the job now but it’s great to know for us athletes how it will be used in the future, and that it has been built in a sustainable way.
“You can laugh about the beds but it’s good to know you don’t have 10,000 beds left over at the end.”
Source Agencies
