--- title: "Olympics Cancels Practice Session in River Seine After Swimmers Fall Ill" description: "The safety of the Seine River continues to be called into question after a practice session for marathon swimmers on Tuesday was canceled." date: "2024-08-07" modified: "2024-08-07" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/olympics-seine-cancel-event" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "Olympics" - "water pollution" --- # Olympics Cancels Practice Session in River Seine After Swimmers Fall Ill ![The safety of the Seine River continues to be called into question after a practice session for marathon swimmers on Tuesday was canceled.]() *South Africa's Jamie Riddle competes in the swimming stage in the Seine during the men's individual triathlon at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in central Paris on July 31, 2024. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP) (Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images) \Image: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP via Getty Images\* The safety of the Seine River continues to be called into question after a practice session for marathon swimmers on Tuesday was canceled due to water quality concerns, the [*Associated Press* reports.]() This latest development comes after two Olympic triathlon swimmers who competed in the Seine last week fell ill, forcing them to drop out of the upcoming mixed relay competition — and shining a bright light on the decision to hold athletic events in the historically polluted waterway. The cancellation of Tuesday's session was based on water samples taken on Sunday, according to the *AP*, which showed that the levels of enterococci, a bacteria found in fecal matter, exceeded the permissible amount set by World Aquatics' standards for "good" water quality. Monday samples, meanwhile, showed that the levels of the bacteria E. coli, which is also spread by feces, were within acceptable limits. Officials emphasize that the water quality has been improving each day, however, and maintain that there's no proof that the river caused the athletes to be sick. "For the moment, there is no direct link between the Seine and any illness," Pierre Rabadan, the Paris deputy mayor in charge of the Olympics, said in a news conference Monday, [as quoted by *The Washington Post*](). To some extent, bacterial contamination is unavoidable, according to experts. But high levels of it increase the risk of illness, which is usually caused by swallowing water or by swimming with open wounds that are exposed to the bacteria. "It's not so much about what's in there. It's the quantity of what's in there," Amesh Adalja at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security told *WaPo*. Historically, the Seine has been so filthy that swimming in it has been prohibited to the public for nearly a century. But to prepare for the Olympics, France spent over $1.5 billion on an ambitious project to clean up the river. In the weeks leading up to the first triathlon events, multiple tests showed that the Seine was safe. To prove it, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo [took a brief dip in the river]() last month. But several rainstorms have led to nasty runoff from Paris's sewers seeping into the river, spiking pollution levels — temporarily, according to officials and experts — once again. Since then, there have been [two cancellations]() of practice sessions in the Seine, as well as the [postponement of the men's triathlon]() last Tuesday. There's also the [untimely illnesses]() of the two triathletes, Claire Michel of Belgium, and Adrien Briffod of Switzerland, who swam in the Seine last Wednesday, competing in the women's and men's triathlon respectively. Michel visited the medical clinic at the Athlete's Village on Sunday, and later returned to her room. The exact nature of her illness remains unclear. Briffod, meanwhile, developed a gastrointestinal infection — but the Switzerland Olympic team said it's "impossible to say" if it was related to the Seine's water quality, per the *AP*. As it stands, no competition events have been outright canceled yet. Doubts will persist over the river's quality, however, and they will likely extend past the Olympics' end, as Paris hopes to [open several locations along the Seine to the public]() in 2025. **More on the Olympics:** *[Olympic Athlete Hospitalized After Swimming in Seine River]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()