Triathlon start at Olympia is cancelled at short notice
The men's triathlon at the Olympic Games in Paris has been postponed due to polluted waters in the Seine. Concerns about the event have been growing for days. Heavy rainfall on Friday and Saturday has polluted the water of the Parisian river.
The men's Olympic triathlon has been postponed by a day to Wednesday due to poor water quality in the Seine. The organizers announced this just hours before the scheduled start of the race. The heavy rainfall over the weekend has again led to "values above the limit," according to a statement. Training on Sunday and Monday was also cancelled.
The men's competition will now begin on Wednesday at 10:45 AM, immediately following the women's decision at 8:00 AM. This is contingent upon "the next tests meeting the standards," the organizing committee and World Triathlon announced. The health of the athletes is the top priority. The triathletes' competitions are the first to take place in the river of Paris. The open water swimmers, including Florian Wellbrock and Leonie Beck, will also compete in the Seine on August 8 and 9.
Even before the start of the Games, the water quality had repeatedly caused a stir. Among others, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and organizing chief Tony Estanguet took a dip in the Seine to prove that the river is clean enough.
In recent years, the French state has invested approximately 1.4 billion euros to clean up the Seine. This involved connecting numerous households to the sewage system, which previously discharged their wastewater directly into the Seine and its tributaries. A massive overflow basin was also built in Paris to prevent the sewage system from flooding the Seine during heavy rain. However, due to the rainy early summer, some water samples are still above the threshold values, for example for the fecal bacteria E. coli. There were numerous sarcastic comments about the Seine, the "toilet of Paris," circulating on online services.
The triathlon event in Paris, initially scheduled for an earlier date, has now been shifted to Wednesday due to contaminated waters in the Seine. Regardless of the postponement, the swimmers, including Florian Wellbrock and Leonie Beck, will still compete in the Seine on August 8 and 9.
