The water in the Seine River — the Paris waterway serving as the venue for the open water marathon swims and first third of the triathlon — is dirty. So dirty that a recent report in June published by the Paris region and Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s office noted the river still contained high amounts of fecal bacteria, including E. coli, making it unsafe to swim in.
And according to multiple people on Team USA, they’ve heard of no backup venue for the Olympics, should it remain too dangerous for swimmers to compete in.
“My biggest concern, honestly, is just whether the race is going to be held or not,” 23-year-old 10k open water swimmer Ivan Puskovitch told USA TODAY Sports at U.S. Olympic swimming trials (in the pool) last month.
“Obviously, health and safety has to come first. It’s pretty disappointing that the Olympic organizers have really not locked in cleaning this venue up as far in advance as they should have, to the point where now the whole world is questioning whether it’s going to happen in time.”
Swimming in the Seine has largely been banned since 1923, but Paris Olympics organizers vowed to clean the water and bring it to safe swimming standards, including investing $1.5 billion toward the effort, the Associated Press reported last year.
The June 21 report and the mayor cited heavy rain, little sunshine and below-average temperatures among the reasons for degraded water quality. And a Paris official said the water samples “do not meet the standards” for competition, according to Le Monde and Agence France-Presse.
Olympics organizers have been “so adamant,” Puskovitch noted, about not having a plan B venue. Puskovitch — along with American open water swimmer Katie Grimes and Team USA open water coach Ron Aitken — said there has only been talk of backup dates, not an alternate venue.
“That’s extremely irresponsible,” Puskovitch said. “I think that even if there’s a 1 percent chance that the race isn’t gonna be able to be held because of cleanliness or lack of cleanliness, you need to have a backup plan. It’s the Olympics.”
USA TODAY Sports and For The Win reached out to Paris Olympics organizers, who did not respond for comment.
