For over a century it was considered illegal to swim in the Seine river, nevertheless, upon the announcement of the 2024 Paris Games, Olympic organizers made it a priority to attempt to clean up the water, so they could hold the outdoor swimming events.
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With this in mind, the heavy rainfall that fell on the host city during the opening ceremony evidently affected the quality of river Seine's water. As a result, the triathlon swimming training session was canceled both Sunday and again on Monday.
In regards to the upcoming schedule, the men's triathlon is scheduled for Tuesday and the women's triathlon is scheduled for Wednesday. That is to say, if the events need to be postponed, the contingency plan is to hold the races on Thursday and Friday.
Paris 2024 and World Triathlon made a joint statement expressing optimism, as reported by CNN.
"Given the weather forecast for the next 36 hours, Paris 2024 and World Triathlon are confident that water quality will return to below limits before the start of the triathlon competitions on July 30."
Despite spending an estimated $1.5 billion to clean up the river ahead of the Olympics, Paris officials received backlash in the weeks leading up to the Games, as concerns grew over the Seine's water pollution problem. This then led to France's Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera recording herself jumping into the river in attempt to lessen fears.
France’s Minister of Sport Amélie Oudéa-Castéra took a swim in the Seine river in Paris today.
She wanted to prove to the participants of the Paris Olympics that it will be safe for them to swim in the polluted river during the triathlon and other events pic.twitter.com/DekRkkQriG
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 13, 2024
Marisol Casado, the head of World Triathlon, mentioned there is some uncertainty regarding whether or not the athletes will be able to swim.
"There is still a doubt because, as I say, it depends on the weather conditions, [but] the weather conditions now are very good, fantastic."
There are talks about canceling the swimming events and replacing it for more running.
"Worst case scenario if needed, this is in our rules and regulations, we will convert it to duathlon, that is run, cycling and run again. I hope we're not going to arrive to this point," Casado said.
In view of the triathlon event, if everything goes according to plan, it will take place Tuesday, July 30 (2 am ET), featuring a 1.5-kilometer swim, followed by a 40K bike race, and finishing with a 10K run through the middle of downtown Paris.
To point out, the 10-kilometer marathon open water Olympic swimming event is also scheduled to take place in the Seine river on August 7th for women and August 8th for men.
