The men’s triathlon at the Paris Olympics has been postponed due to concerns over the water quality of the Seine River.
The triathletes’ swimming training sessions were cancelled on Sunday and Monday and it was decided to move the men’s competition, which was due to start at 8am local time on Tuesday, to Wednesday.
The race has been moved to 10:45am local time, after the women’s race which was scheduled to take place at 8am.
According to a statement from World Triathlon, Friday will remain an emergency day if one or both races cannot go ahead.
“Tests carried out today in the Seine have shown that the water quality does not provide sufficient guarantees for the event to take place,” the statement said.
The men’s triathlon at the Olympic Games has been postponed due to the water quality of the Seine
Training sessions for the Olympic triathlon event in Paris have been cancelled in recent days
‘Despite the improvement in water quality, the values at some points in the swimming course are still above acceptable values.’
The organizers also had the option of eliminating the swim and turning the event into a duathlon.
More than €1 billion (£840,000 / $1 billion) was spent cleaning up the river in preparation for the Games.
However, the organizers knew that heavy rainfall in the days before the race could increase the concentration of the harmful bacteria E. coli.
There was hope that the effects of the deluge that marred Friday’s opening ceremony would disappear in time, but that has not been the case.
Swimming in the Seine, which crosses the city, has been prohibited since 1923.
Heavy rainfall in the French capital over the past 48 hours has deteriorated the quality of the water
In 1990, Jacques Chirac, then mayor of Paris, declared that he would make the city clean enough to be allowed in, but he failed to do so.
Earlier this month, after a staggering investment, current Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a group of about 100 civil servants into the water and swam about 100 meters.
However, the heavy rainfall that disrupted the opening ceremony has affected the water quality, with a risk of contamination, particularly by E. coli.
Such a drop is harmful because it can cause problems with the wastewater and water velocity.
Last weekend, Tony Estanguet, the organizer of the Paris 2024 event, said at a press conference that he was “very confident” that the swim in the Seine would go ahead.