After days of water-quality concerns caused by heavy rains last week put the swimming portion of the Olympic triathlons in doubt, the women dove into the Seine River early Wednesday, followed by the men a few hours later.
Triathletes dive into the Seine - The Canadian PressPARIS —
“The problem is always worse when there’s a heavy rainfall, because it kind of overwhelms the pipes and you also get all the runoff from the street. All that lands in the Seine,” explained Dr. Nicole Iovine, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Florida. “They’ve done a lot to try to improve the quality of the water. But the truth is you're at the mercy of Mother Nature.”
Cassandre Beaugrand of France won gold in the women’s event, while Julie Derron of Switzerland took silver and Beth Potter of Britain got the bronze medal. Alex Yee of Britain won gold in the men's race, with Hayden Wilde of New Zealand winning silver and Léo Bergère of France taking bronze. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who took a much-publicized dip in the Seine two weeks ago along with Estanguet and others to ease fears about water quality, said after Beaugrand won the first Olympic gold in the river: “How special to see her swimming in the Seine, thank you for making us so proud!"
Every day since Sunday, even as organizers announced cancellations or postponements, they continued to express confidence that the swims in the Seine would go forward as planned the next day. For several days they did not publicly release the data on levels of E. coli and other bacteria that contributed to their decisions.
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