French sports minister takes a dip in the Seine ahead of Paris Olympics 2024

Ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024, France's Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amelie Oudea-Castera, took a dip in the River Seine on Saturday, July 13, in a bid to show the river is safe and clean to host the swimming events.

Oudéa-Castéra was accompanied by the Paris Paralympic flag bearer for France, Alexis Hanquinquant, as she was dressed in a body suit before diving into the famous river near the Alexandre III bridge, where the Olympic open water swimming events will take place.

Earlier, the Paris Olympics 2024 officials pledged to swim in the Seine River before the start of the Games to showcase that the river is clean for hosting the swimming events.

“We held our promise,” she told BFMTV.

Interestingly, swimming in the Seine has been banned since 1923 due to dangerous pollution levels. However, various French politicians have promised to make the river swimmable again.

In 1988, the then-Paris Mayor and later president Jacques Chirac announced that the river would be clean enough to swim by the end of his term. However, his promise went unfulfilled.

In February 2024, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he would take a dip too, stating:

“I’m not going to give you the date: There’s a risk you’ll be there."

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also plans to swim in the Seine to prove its cleanliness.

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Paris Olympics 2024 organizers have backup plans for open-water swimming events

If the pollution levels rise during the events, Paris 2024 organizers have backup plans for the same. After facing severe criticism, the Paris Olympics 2024 organizing committee came up with backup plans for the open-water swimming events.

On Friday, July 5, the organizers announced that there is Plan B for the open water swimming events.

According to the schedule, triathlon and marathon swimming are expected to take place on the River Seine. According to Plan B, the officials will change the triathlon to a duathlon without the swimming part.

Meanwhile, the marathon swimming competition might be relocated to the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in the Greater Paris region, which will host the rowing and canoeing events.

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