General
After Olympic Triathlons in Seine, Leaders Hail Dual Wins for France
Years of digging pipes and cisterns, and more than $1 billion, were required to make the Seine River clean enough to host the races. Two French athletes won medals.
It was a very, very good day for Paris’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo.
A day she had dreamed about for nine years. A day she could gloat about to the critics who had long said it was impossible. A day of blissful sun after the deluge.
After all the mockery and doubts, after delays because of bad water quality induced by rain — and forecasts for more storms — the stretch of the Seine designated to host the Olympic triathlons was deemed clean enough for the races on Wednesday morning. A horn sounded, and more than 100 elite athletes dove in before thousands of adoring fans.
And then, as if preordained, the French triathlete Cassandre Beaugrand was the first woman to swim, bike and run her way to the finish line across the Alexandre III Bridge, winning her country another gold. A few hours later, the French triathlete Léo Bergère won a bronze in the men’s event, behind Alex Yee of Britain and Hayden Wilde of New Zealand.
“It was the cherry on the cake,” Ms. Hidalgo said before a huge, roaring crowd that lined the river and streets to cheer on the athletes, with some spectators stopping her for selfies.
Just weeks ago, France brimmed with critics and skeptics over its plans for the Olympics and the role the river would play in them. The idea to hold the opening ceremony exposed along the Seine, instead of inside a barricaded stadium, seemed foolhardy, particularly in a city scarred by terrorism. The pharaonic efforts to clean the river’s water enough to host not just the triathlon but marathon swimming seemed an expensive fool’s errand.
