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Paris Olympics Organizers unveil backup plans for swimming events in River Seine

After facing severe criticism, the Paris Olympics 2024 organizing committee, led by Tony Estanguet, has come up with backup plans for the open-water swimming events if the Seine River water is unsafe for swimming.

According to the schedule, triathlon and marathon swimming are expected to take place in the River Seine. However, due to the unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria being detected in recent weeks, a lot of questions have been raised if the events could go ahead as per schedule.

On Friday, July 5, the organizers confirmed that Plan B for the open water swimming events - the triathlon and marathon, which are scheduled to happen near the Alexander III bridge between July 30 and August 5 could be postponed by a few days if conditions are unsafe.

“The potential for unseasonal weather events requires us to be cautious,” a statement from the organizers said.

The triathlon could be converted into a duathlon in the Paris Olympics 2024

If heavy rain affects the river flow and enhances the bacteria levels, the officials will change the triathlon to a duathlon without the swimming part in the Paris Olympics.

On the other hand, the marathon swimming competition might be relocated to the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in the Greater Paris region, which hosts rowing and canoeing competitions.

Nevertheless, the officials have sounded confident after the recent signs of improvement in River Seine’s water quality. According to the latest reports on the Seine’s water quality, there is a significant improvement in the reduction of bacteria levels due to sunny and warm temperatures recorded in the last week.

With rain stopping last week, the E. coli and enterococci were found to be below the permissible levels between June 24 and July 2. However, earlier results in the previous month found unacceptable and unsafe E. coli limits till June 18.

“We have observed in the past week that results would have enabled events to be held in the Seine on seven out of nine days,” Paris Olympics 2024 organizers said.

Interestingly, the Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo postponed plans to swim in the River Seine on Sunday, instead rescheduling it for July 14.

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