September 6, (THEWILL) – International Olympic Committee (IOC) President, Thomas Bach, said on Wednesday, he was “confident” and “optimistic” the swimming events planned for Paris’s Seine River will go ahead at the 2024 Summer Olympics, even after recent cancellations due to high pollution levels.
“We still have one year before the Olympic Games, everyone is working on this challenge and I’m very confident that at the time of the Olympic Games, it will be a huge success, which will benefit the entire population,” Bach said after inaugurating sports facilities in Vitry-le-Francois in northeastern France.
“We mustn’t forget that for a very long time swimming in the Seine was banned,” he continued. “If with these Games, Parisians return to the Seine, also for leisure and for swimming, it’s a huge project and I’m optimistic that we’re going to achieve a good result.”
In recent weeks, test events planned in the Seine could not take place due to excessive E. coli bacteria in the water. An open water swim race was cancelled, while a triathlon was transformed into a duathlon only involving cycling and running. A triathlon has never been converted into a duathlon at an Olympics since the sport was added to the programme in 2000.
Asked about such a possibility next year, the IOC president insisted: “During the Games, the Olympic programme is triathlon!.” Paris officials announced at the end of August that a valve malfunction in the city’s sanitation network could have caused the pollution. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has promised that Parisians should be able to return to swimming on three sites in the Seine in 2025.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
