Fears major Olympic event could undergo never-before-seen change at Paris 2024 thanks to ‘alarming’ pollution

TRIATHLETES will be banned from swimming in the River Seine during the Paris 2024 Olympics if the levels of pollution are too dangerous.

Organisers of this summer’s Games will push back the three triathlon races by several days if there is too much POO recorded in the French capital’s main waterway.

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This summer’s Olympic triathlon may lose stage one, the swimming[/caption]

Reuters

Untreated water flowed into the River Seine after heavy rainfall[/caption]

The worst case scenario would see the swimming SCRAPPED altogether and a switch from triathlon to duathlon – which would consist of just the bike and run disciplines.

This would be an unprecedented move as every Olympic triathlon since its introduction at the Sydney 2000 Games has involved the opening 1500-metres swim leg.

Britain are the mixed team relay champions in triathlon following their victory at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Londoner Alex Yee won the men’s test event last August in Paris while Beth Potter claimed success in the women’s race.

The individual triathlons are set to take place on July 30 and 31 while the team event is on August 5 – and they all start at 8am local time.

It is not known what will happen to the men’s and women’s 10 kilometres marathon swimming on August 8-9 if sewage levels are high, especially if there have been heavy rainstorms before the Games open on July 26.

A long-term £1billion project is in motion to clear up the Seine to allow residents to swim in it during the summer months.

Yet on Tuesday a charity in France raised concerns over “alarming” bacteria levels polluting the 777-kilometre-long (483 mile) river.

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Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, says health and safety will be paramount for all competitors.

Speaking at the Sport Accord summit in Birmingham, France’s three-time Olympic canoe slalom champion, 45, said: “We are working hard on it. It’s one of the biggest challenges.

“When we decided to have this competition in the Seine, we knew at that time that it would be a big challenge. The quality is assessed and it is getting better and better.

“We are still confident that the triathlon will be based in the Seine. We’re very confident that it will be possible.

“We have contingency plans also to postpone if for rainy conditions we cannot organise the event on one day.

“There is only one location. If it’s not suitable we postpone and change the date. Maybe one, three days until it’s okay.

“There is a final decision where we could not swim and it’s part of the rules of the International Federations.

“It’s what we want to avoid, of course, 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.

“I was an athlete. When you’re in a sport where you rely on the natural conditions, you have to adapt. It’s part of the flexibility. It’s part of the preparation.

“There’s a risk (the swimming won’t happen). They would then switch to duathlon.”

Paris 2024 are spending about €350million (£300m) on security and will employ 45,000 police officers during the 17-day Games over July and August.

The problems hitting the French capital come less than two weeks after the Boat Race on the River Thames endured a similar issue.

Oxford rower Leonard Jenkins praised Cambridge’s win as well deserved but said some of his team-mates went “down pretty badly with E coli strain”.

Organisers went ahead with the Boat Race despite concerns over the water