AFP

Paris Olympics organisers cancelled training for open water swimming in the River Seine on Tuesday due to pollution, raising questions over why triathletes were allowed to swim in the waterway the day before.

The decision — the fifth time organisers have cancelled training in the river since the start of the Games on July 28 — is also likely to further frustrate swimmers.

The Paris sewerage system is known to discharge untreated waste water into the channel during severe rainstorms despite a 1.4-billion euros ($1.5 billion) upgrade over the last decade.

Training for the triathlon mixed relay race was cancelled on Saturday and Sunday after storms last week.

But organisers and governing body World Triathlon gave the green light for the competition to go ahead on Monday, saying bacterial levels had fallen to safe levels.

They did not give figures for the two bacteria they measure as an indicator of the presence of faecal matter — E.Coli and enterococci.

The race turned out to be a thriller, Germany’s Laura Lindemann holding off a fierce challenge from the United States and Britain to take gold.

Organisers issued a statement early Tuesday saying the marathon swimming “familiarisation session” on Tuesday would not go ahead because of elevated enterococci readings.

“After the daily situation meeting this morning between Ville de Paris, Paris 2024 and World Aquatics, it has been decided that the familiarisation session to take place today, 6 August 2024 is cancelled,” the statement said.

Several triathletes have expressed frustration about the repeated training cancellations since the start of the Games which prevented them from preparing for the strong currents in the Seine, which is flowing at two-three times its usual summer rate.

The Seine is set to be used for marathon swimming — a 10-kilometre race — on August 8 for women and August 9 for men.

Monday’s mixed triathlon relay was disrupted by illness with at least three teams reporting sick athletes who had swum in the River Seine the week before during the individual men and women’s races.

Teams from Belgium, Switzerland and Norway reported racers with stomach bugs, although no direct link was drawn to the Seine.

Some athletes have defended using the river and say they have not been affected by the uncertainty about its cleanliness.

“No-one was afraid to jump in. We were all happy to have a race,” German Tim Hellwig, who won gold on Monday during the team event, told reporters.

“If like 99 percent of the athletes don’t have any problems, I think it’s fine,” he said.

Organisers have said that marathon swimming can be moved to another location in Vaires-sur-Marne on the River Marne east of Paris if the Seine is too polluted to use.

They said Tuesday they were “very confident” that the men’s and women’s events would take place in the Seine.

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