The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has taken a long-awaited swim in the murky waters of the Seine amid joy and relief that the river is finally clean enough for outdoor Olympic swimming events later this month.
Wearing goggles and a wet suit, the 65-year-old city leader swam breaststroke under bright sunshine on Wednesday morning before immersing her face and beginning a front crawl, covering about 100 metres (about 110 yards) downstream.
“It’s wonderful, very, very pleasant,” Hidalgo told reporters of the greenish water. “It’s fresh but not cold.”
She was joined by senior local officials and chief organiser of the Paris Games, Tony Estanguet, a gold medal-winning canoeist who has been sweating on the state of the Seine before the opening of the games next week.
“Today is a confirmation that we are exactly where we meant to be,” Estanguet said. “We are now ready to organise the games in the Seine.”
The swimming leg of the Olympics triathlon is set to take place in its waters on July 30-31 and August 5, followed by the open-water swimming on August 8-9.
Despite an investment of 1.4 billion euros ($1.5bn) to prevent sewage leaks into the waterway, the river had been continually failing water quality tests until the start of this month.
Wednesday’s dip in front of more than 150 journalists was intended to demonstrate that the river was ready, but also to underline what is meant to be one of the key legacy achievements of Paris 2024.
Hidalgo plans to create three public bathing areas in the Seine for the city’s residents next year – a century after swimming was banned – while fish and other organisms are also returning to the waterway in greater numbers.
The Seine’s flow is currently about 400 cubic metres per second – many times above the usual level for this time of year of 100-150m3/s.
Hidalgo’s swim follows French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea Castera, who took the plunge and swam in the River Seine on July 13.
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