General
Olympic Men’s Triathlon Postponed Because of Pollution in the Seine
Water-quality tests early Tuesday showed that the river running through Paris was unsafe for swimming, organizers said.
Olympics organizers postponed the men’s individual triathlon race that had been scheduled for Tuesday morning, saying water-quality tests had shown that the Seine, the river that traverses Paris, was unsafe to swim in.
The race will now be held on Wednesday morning, after the end of the women’s triathlon, the sport’s governing body, World Triathlon, said in a statement early Tuesday.
“The tests carried out in the Seine today revealed water quality levels that did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held,” the organization said, adding that the race could be further rescheduled.
The Olympics website said only that the men’s individual race had been rescheduled, citing “weather.”
Though disappointing for spectators and competitors, Paris organizers have always warned that heavy rain could force the event to be postponed, and so built in postponement dates into the schedule. Heavy rain during the opening ceremony on Friday night and Saturday caused a spike in dangerous bacteria in the Seine which typically can take one to three days to dissipate, with hot and dry summer conditions.
The city of Paris and its mayor, Anne Hidalgo, have a lot riding on the race and the sight of athletes splashing down the river with the gold dome above Napoleon’s tomb glittering nearby and the Eiffel Tower rising ahead. To make it happen, they spent more than $1.5 billion on a project to prevent polluted water from flowing into the Seine.
