By Scott Trotter
Great Britain's Olympic hopefuls could see a dramatic late change to their hopes for success in the triathlon in Paris.
Pollution in the River Seine could yet see the event change to a duathlon with the swimming portion dropped due to safety issues. There are concerns over the levels of E.coli in the water which could deem open-water swimming unsafe.
Earlier this week, the French NGO said it 'wanted to share with stakeholders its rising concerns about the quality of the Seine but also the risks faced by athletes moving in contaminated water'. Six months of tests had concluded that the water remained potentially dangerous.
Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet has now admitted that contingency plans are in place should the clean-up operation not be possible in time for the Games. Team GB, who earned gold in the mixed relay in Tokyo in addition to silver medals for Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown, could see the 1500m swim taken out of the triathlon.
While that would be the worst-case scenario and be the first time in Olympic history the event has been downgraded to a duathlon, an earlier option would simply see it delayed. Men's and women's races have been pencilled in deliberately early in the Games, July 30 and 31, while the mixed relay will take place on August 5. The men's and women's marathon swimming races are also set to to take place in the Seine on August 8 and 9 and could be impacted.
"It’s one of the biggest challenges," said Estanguet. "If it’s not suitable (to swim), we postpone and change the date. Maybe one, three days until it’s OK.
"There is a final decision where we could not swim and it’s part of the rules of the International Federations. They would then switch to duathlon.
"It’s what we want to avoid, but the first part of the contingency is to postpone the dates of the competition. That’s why we have programmed the triathlon at the beginning of the Games."
One source of hope for organisers in Paris is that the levels were recorded over one of the wettest winters of the last 30 years. The city's sewage system is known to get overwhelmed in heavy rainfall which can lead to the discharge of untreated water.
It has been widely accepted that Olympic sport will only be able to take place in the river should weather be dry or rainfall light. However, the cleanign of the Seine is hoped to be one of the legacy achievements of the Olympics, with public bathing areas to be create.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo and President Emmanuel Macron have each promised to swim in the Seine to illustrate its safety before the start of the Olympics.
