Olympics: Fears for Seine water quality as second day of triathlon training cancelled

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00:00Just over two weeks ago, everything was going just swimmingly, according to the outgoing

00:06French sports minister.

00:08Amélie Oudéa-Castillard took a dip in the Seine in a bid to reassure the public of the

00:13water quality, but after heavy rain in the days leading up to the Paris Olympics, organisers

00:19cancelled the triathlon swimming training session for the second day in a row on Monday,

00:24with 24 hours to go until the men's race.

00:27Speaking to French media on Monday morning, Oudéa-Castillard said a small delay may be

00:33needed, but the minister remained optimistic.

00:35I'm confident that we'll be ready tomorrow for the men's triathlon.

00:41If we still aren't, we've planned, as we've always said, contingency days that will allow

00:45us to consider alternative solutions.

00:47But once again, for the time being, we're absolutely sticking to the original plan.

00:53The triathlon is the first Olympic event due to be held in the Seine before marathon

00:58swimming in the second week of the Games.

01:00If all goes as planned, it will mark the first time athletes have competed in the river at

01:05an Olympics since 1900.

01:08Due to an exceptionally wet spring and start to summer, the Seine had been consistently

01:13failing water tests until the start of July, with levels of the E. coli bacteria, an indicator

01:19of faecal matter, sometimes 10 times higher than authorised limits.

01:24France has invested some 1.4 billion euros in new wastewater infrastructure to cut the

01:30amounts of sewage flowing into the river, and authorities have announced plans for three

01:34swimming sites to open to the public by June next year.

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