PARIS 2024 – Promise kept. This is the image we were all waiting for, perhaps even more than the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games: Anne Hidalgo finally took a dip in the Seine, as she had promised. This Wednesday, July 17, a little before 10 a.m., after multiple postponements, the mayor of Paris, dressed in a wetsuit and swimming goggles, cautiously descended from a pontoon installed for the occasion on the Marie arm.
The PS mayor did a few strokes, submerging her head to do crawl movements. She then joined another pontoon located a little further away, lending herself to a photo shoot in the water before going back up by a ladder.
Anne Hidalgo wanted to prove to the world, and to the athletes who will have to take part in the open water triathlon and paratriathlon events, that the river is swimmable, thanks to the very costly work that has been undertaken to clean it up.
She was joined in her swim by several dozen people, including journalists from abroad who had come to test the waters of Paris for themselves.
Macron’s turn soon?
The swimmable nature of the watercourse is determined in particular by the concentration of two bacteria indicating faecal contamination, Escherichia coli and enterococci. The latter have been present in very high concentrations in recent months due to heavy rainfall which has caused rain and wastewater to mix in the Seine. However, retention structures inaugurated are helping to limit the phenomenon.
Anne Hidalgo had asked Emmanuel Macron to go swimming with her, but he declined the offer. However, according to his entourage, it is still planned that he jump into the water.
Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra already took a swim in the Seine on Saturday July 13, shouting loudly in front of the cameras.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.fr
