Olympics 2024: Paris Mayor Takes Historic Dip in the Seine to Prove Its Cleanliness Ahead of Games

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Paris, Jul 17: After months of anticipation, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the Seine River on Wednesday (July 17), fulfilling a promise she made months ago to show the river is clean enough to host open-swimming competitions during the 2024 Olympics - and the opening ceremony on the river just nine days away.

Clad in a wetsuit, Hidalgo plunged into the river near the imposing-looking City Hall, her office, and the Notre Dame Cathedral. Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet and the top government official for the Paris region, Marc Guillaume, joined her. Paris 2024 Special Page

"The water is very, very good. A little cool, but not so bad,'' Hidalgo said upon emerging. This swim is part of a broader effort to showcase the river's improved cleanliness ahead of the Summer Games, which will kick off on July 26 with a lavish open-air ceremony that includes an athletes' parade on boats on the Seine.

Daily water quality tests in early June indicated unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria, followed by recent improvements. Since 2015, organizers have invested heavily - $1.5 billion - to prepare the Seine for the Olympics and to ensure Parisians have a cleaner river in the years after the Games. The plan included constructing a giant underground water storage basin in central Paris, renovating sewer infrastructure, and upgrading wastewater treatment plants.

Despite being a recurring promise among politicians, swimming in the Seine has been banned for over a century. Jacques Chirac, the former French president, made a similar pledge in 1988 when he was Paris mayor, but it was never realized. Hidalgo followed in the footsteps of French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who swam in the Seine on Saturday wearing a full-body suit.

Originally planned for June, Hidalgo's swim was postponed due to snap parliamentary elections in France. On the initial date, the hashtag "#jechiedanslaSeine" ("I'm pooping in the Seine") trended on social media as some threatened to protest the Olympics by defecating upstream.

Concerns over the Seine's flow and pollution levels have persisted, prompting daily water quality tests by the monitoring group Eau de Paris. Results in early June indicated unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria, followed by recent improvements.

The Seine will host several open water swimming events during the Games, including marathon swimming at the Olympic Games and the swimming legs of the Olympic and Paralympic triathlons.

(With Inputs from AP)