PARIS — The men’s Olympic triathlon planned for Tuesday has been postponed over concerns about water quality in Paris’ Seine River, where the swimming portion of the race was supposed to take place.
Organizers said they will try to hold the men’s triathlon Wednesday instead. The women’s competition is also scheduled on Wednesday, but both are subject to water tests. Friday is also planned as a backup date.
But Meteo-France, the French weather service, was forecasting storms Tuesday night, light rain Wednesday afternoon and storms Thursday, which could complicate rescheduling the events.
Heavy rains generally cause levels of E. coli and other bacteria in the Seine to rise. Paris experienced a downpour during the Olympic opening ceremony Friday, with rain continuing into Saturday. The swimming portion of training events meant to let the triathletes familiarize themselves with the course was canceled on both Sunday and Monday because of concerns over water quality.
The decision to postpone the men’s triathlon followed a meeting early Tuesday morning that included the sport’s governing body, World Triathlon, its medical team and city officials.
“Despite the improvement on the water quality levels in the last hours, the readings at some points of the swim course are still above the acceptable limits,” organizers said in a statement announcing the postponement, stressing that their “priority is the health of the athletes.”
The men’s event is now scheduled to start at 10:45 a.m., which may make heat more of a factor. Wednesday’s high temperature is forecast to be 95 F (35 C), and the event may be finishing at the hottest part of the day. The women’s race is set to go forward at 8 a.m. Wednesday as originally planned.
Organizers and city officials had expressed confidence that bacteria levels would improve as skies cleared and temperatures warmed in the days that followed, but that apparently wasn’t sufficient to ensure the athletes’ safety.
Paris made an enormous effort to improve the water quality in the long-polluted Seine so the swimming portion of the triathlon and the marathon swimming event in August could be held in the famed river that runs through the city center. But bacteria levels have remained in flux.
Daily water quality tests measure levels of fecal bacteria known as E. coli, with a safe limit of 900 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters determined by European rules. Monitoring group Eau de Paris releases data each Friday, but it is updated only through the previous Tuesday.
High levels of E. coli in water can indicate contamination from sewage. Most strains are harmless and some live in the intestines of healthy people and animals. But others can be dangerous. Even a mouthful of contaminated water can lead to diarrhea, and the germ can cause illnesses such as infections in the urinary tract or in the intestines.
Efforts to make the river suitable for swimming cost 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion). They include the construction of a giant basin to capture excess rainwater and keep wastewater from flowing into the river, renovating sewer infrastructure and upgrading wastewater treatment plants.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo very publicly took a swim in the river two weeks ago, along with Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet, and the top government official for the Paris region, Marc Guillaume, along with swimmers from local swimming clubs. Data released last week show that E. coli levels at the Bras Marie were at 985 units per 100 milliliters that day, slightly above the established threshold.
