Olympic Men’s Triathlon Postponed Because of Pollution in the Seine

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Olympic Men’s Triathlon Postponed Because of Pollution in the Seine

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

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

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.

The ambitious plan was supposed make the river safe for Olympic events, including the triathlon and open-water swimming, and the opening ceremony, which involved a flotilla of boats carrying thousands of athletes. The authorities also raised hopes that locals would eventually be able to swim in the river, once the Games are over.

The city renovated its antiquated drainage infrastructure, adding new pipes, connecting houseboats to the sewage system and adding special treatments to two upstream sewage plants. It also opened a giant underground water tank to hold rainwater during storms.

Daily tests earlier this month showed some success: six out of seven samples met cleanliness standards at the Olympic sites. As a show of confidence, Ms. Hidalgo plunged into the river in front of reporters two weeks ago.

But on Tuesday, the problem was the rain that had fallen during the opening ceremony on Friday and the first official day of races on Saturday, World Triathlon said, blaming “meteorological events beyond our control.” When it rains heavily, water runs off the city’s roads and sidewalks into the river.

Tests in the Seine following the rain have shown a spike in the levels of two bacteria, E. coli and intestinal enterococci, which can cause illness in humans, officials said. Training was canceled for two consecutive days because of the pollution.

A few days of sunny weather followed, raising hopes that the river would be cleared of pollution. Olympics organizers said on Monday that they were confident they would be able to hold the competition on Tuesday, allowing competitors to ***** in for the first 1.5 kilometers of the race before getting on their bicycles and then running.

Instead, the race has now been postponed.

“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,” World Triathlon said, adding that its priority was “the health of the athletes.”

If the triathlon needs to be rescheduled again, it would happen on the contingency day planned for Friday, World Triathlon said.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Olympic #Mens #Triathlon #Postponed #Pollution #Seine

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up