BBC pundit Mark Foster has put forward a bizarre theory as to why the Olympic triathlon went ahead despite water pollution concerns.
Both the men’s and women’s triathlons went ahead on Wednesday after uncertainty regarding the cleanliness of the water in the River Seine.
Ahead of the events, Paris 2024 execs had cancelled practice sessions and suspended the start with potentially dangerous levels of E.Coli found in the water.
But after meetings and late tests, the murky waters were deemed safe and given the green light by Olympic officials.
However, Foster bizarrely put forward an alternative reason that the race could have gone ahead.
Speaking on BBC Sport, he said: “I woke up in the middle of the night last night and it was raining a bit and that’s not normally a good sign for pollution in the River Seine, is it, so I thought it’d be off today.
“I wonder if the triathletes themselves had a meeting and went, you know what, whatever happens we’re swimming today.
“Because a triathlon is not a triathlon if you take the swimming out.”
The water was still being tested by officials after 3am, less than five hours before the first event began.
Despite the strange suggestion by Foster, the Olympic committee released a statement ahead of the race confirming that the water was safe to compete in.
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It read: “Following a meeting on water quality held on 31 July at 3.30am attended by Paris 2024, representatives of World Triathlon and their Technical and Medical Delegates, Météo France.
“The City of Paris and the Prefecture of the Île-de-France Region involved in carrying out water quality tests, the stakeholders involved have confirmed that the women’s and the men’s triathlons will go ahead as planned on 31 July at 8am and 10.45am respectively.
“The results of the latest water analyses, received at 3.20am, have been assessed as compliant by World Triathlon allowing for the triathlon competitions to take place.”
Despite the organisers deeming the water safe to compete in, one athlete seemed to label the decision as “bulls***”.
Belgian triathlete Jolien Vermeylen told VTM: “I drank a lot of water, so we’ll know tomorrow if I’m sick or not.
“It doesn’t taste like Coca-Cola or Sprite, of course.
“While swimming under the bridge, I felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much.
“The Seine has been dirty for a hundred years, so they can’t say that the safety of the athletes is a priority. That’s bulls***!”
ESCHERICHIA coli – or E. coli – is a bacteria that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms.
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a bacteria that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms.
Most E.coli strains are harmless, but some can cause serious food poisoning.
Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) is a bacterium that can cause severe foodborne disease.
In most cases, the illness is self-limiting, but it may lead to a life-threatening disease including haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), especially in young children and the elderly.
An E. coli infection is a sickness you get from the E.coli bacteria. It causes a lot of diarrhea-related illnesses like traveler’s diarrhea (known by many other names including Montezuma’s revenge) and dysentery.
It also causes illnesses outside your intestines like pneumonia and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.
City swimming has been banned in Paris for over a century due to water quality issues.
And despite a major €1billion regeneration project, the water was still not up to standards in the expected time frame – leading to the cancellations and postponements.
Vermeylen added: “If the race hadn’t taken place, it would have been a disgrace for the organisation, for Paris, for France.
“It was now or never, and they couldn’t cancel the race completely either.
“Now they just have to hope that there won’t be too many sick athletes. I took pro-biotics, I drank my Yakult, I couldn’t do more.
“I had the idea of not drinking water, but yes, it failed. Just like I had the idea of not falling but that failed too.”
Another athlete was seen vomiting upon crossing the finish line following the mammoth physical effort.
Canada‘s Tyler Mislawchuk took a few paces after finishing before hunching over and throwing up.
The 29-year-old said he vomited a total of 10 times according to reports.
Despite the controversial conditions, it was a successful day at the triathlon for Team GB.
Beth Potter swooped bronze in the women’s event while Alex Yee’s spectacular comeback earned him a gold medal in the men’s race.
