AN AMERICAN triathlete is not washing his hands after going to the loo as part of his warm-up routine before swimming in the Seine.
Triathletes at the Paris 2024 games have been preparing to swim in the heavily contaminated River Seine in their bids to win gold for their respective nations.
Like many rivers across the globe, the Seine was known before the Games began to have its fair share of water-born bacteria due to faecal matter in it.
So US star Seth Rider took the unusual approach of not washing his hands after going to the toilet to build up a tolerance to E.coli.
The 27-year-old said: “We know there is going to be some E.coli exposure.
“So I just try to increase my E.coli threshold by exposing myself to a bit of E.coli in your day-to-day life.
“Just little things throughout your day, like, not washing your hands after you go to the bathroom and stuff like this.”
Rider’s disgusting pre-race preparations may prove to be in vain due to the postponement of the men’s triathlon event.
Early on Tuesday morning, it was announced the race had been postponed by 26 hours as the Seine failed to meet the hygiene levels required for swimming.
Athletes are now in limbo after last-minute tests discovered the water quality levels were still far “above the acceptable limits.”
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Brits Alex Yee and Sam Dickinson are among those waiting to find out.
A statement from Paris 2024 and World Triathlon read: “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.
“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.
“We will provide the athletes who are due to take part in the men’s triathlon event with all information on its postponement, as well as real-time updates on the situation.”
There is a very real possibility that the swimming portion of the triathlon could be scrapped altogether if the water quality levels fail to improve.
That would mean the competition would turn into a duathlon with just cycling and running legs – for the first time at Olympic level.
Olympic bosses blamed s*** in the river and the impact of Climate Change for postponing the triathlon but they refused to apologise for the farce.
A €1billion clean-up operation has been going on for years to make the waterway swimmable for athletes and then the French public as part of a legacy project.
Yet the International Olympic Committee, Paris 2024 staff and World Triathlon bigwigs would not say sorry to athletes, families and friends for the late and unprecedented call.
Aurelie Merle, Paris 2024 Executive Director of Sports Competitions, said: “The amount of water that has fallen on Friday and Saturday has been humongous.
“We’re living in the 21st century where unfortunately there are far more meteorological events that happen that are beyond the control of the organisers.
“We’ve gone from heavy rain to extreme heat in very few days. It’s actually hard to control how it can affect the quality of the river.”
