Olympics pre-race triathlon event in Seine River cancelled over water quality concerns

euronews (in English)

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a famous dip in the river less than two weeks before Olympic events were set to start, hoping to prove that the infamously polluted waterway was clean enough to host swimming competitions.

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00:00The Seine is still not clean enough to host swimming competitions.

00:06Olympic authorities had to postpone a triathlon event scheduled for Sunday.

00:12Bacteria levels are still above safety limits after rain showers peppered Paris on Friday.

00:21The French capital authorities have spent over a billion euro in cleaning up the river for the Games.

00:29But its water quality is highly variable as its cleanliness is directly linked to weather conditions.

00:37Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo took a swim into the Seine recently to demonstrate that the river is safe to swim.

00:46However, tests by the French water body indicated that when she took the dip,

00:52E.coli levels were already above the safe limit determined by European rules.

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