By: Ethan Ding
The Olympic triathlon training in Paris has faced disruptions due to pollution in the River Seine.
Specifically, the swimming training sessions have been canceled on two consecutive days. The water quality did not meet acceptable standards, and the priority remains the health of the athletes. If the water quality doesn’t improve, the triathlon events have contingency days built into the schedule.
The rain that pounded down on Paris during the opening ceremony may have moved somewhere else. However, the Seine River has still felt the effects of the rain because the additional wastewater runoff that entered the river over the weekend increased E. coli levels to above 1,000 CFU/100mL, which is what the World Triathlon considers safe.
“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,” Maze said .
Maze said 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,” Maze said.
Tests earlier in July showed the River Seine was clean enough for swimming, but heavy rain in the French capital on Friday and Saturday has diminished the quality.
“The tests carried out in the Seine [on Sunday] revealed water quality levels that in the view of the international federation, World Triathlon, did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held. This is due to rain that has fallen on Paris on 26 and 27 of July,” a Paris 2024 and World Triathlon statement said.
“Given the weather forecast for the next 36 hours, Paris 2024 and World Triathlon are confident that weather quality will return to below limits before the start of the triathlon competitions on 30 July.”
Significant rainfall can lead to untreated sewage being washed into the river. Still, the statement added: “As observed in July, with summer conditions (more sunshine, higher temperatures, prolonged absence of rain) water quality in the Seine has improved significantly.
Let’s hope the situation improves before the main events.
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https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/uknews/olympic-triathlon-practice-cancelled-due-to-pollution-in-river-seine-less-than-24-hours-before-first-race/ar-BB1qKTd0?ocid=BingNewsSerp