Swim officials will seek another venue if tests show dirty pool

The Olympics want swimmers to tackle the Seine Rive. The scientists have a message – “don’t do it.’’

The Seine river was too dirty when to allow the Olympic triathlon and open water swimming competitions, according to tests. Picture: JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

A showdown is looming over athlete safety with the Paris Olympics rocked by tests revealing the Seine River is too dirty to swim in.

Experts have declared the iconic river was currently too polluted to have the Olympic triathlon and open water swimming events held there following a series of tests conducted over the past fortnight.

This is likely to place Games officials on a collision course with World Aquatics officials who told this masthead in May the above events would have to be sent to a fresh location if the Seine was unsafe.

The French plan, by contrast, is simply to delay the events for a day or two until the water is at a passable level. Paris officials have said there is no Plan B.

“Samples from the Seine do not meet the standards we will have this summer,” Paris region prefect Marc Guillaume said.

The report blamed unseasonal rainy weather for the high rates of two kinds of fecal bacteria in the water.

World Aquatics boss Brent Nowicki has said events will be moved if water is not clean.

Swimming in the Seine has been banned since 1923 but there has been a recent push by a succession of local mayors to open it up.

This masthead revealed swimming’s world governing body is secretly preparing contingency plans to relocate the open water races if French officials fail to deliver on their promise to clean up the city’s notoriously polluted river.

World Aquatics officials have vowed they will move the events to an as yet undisclosed location if the river continues to show dangerous levels of bacteria and faeces.

“Rest assured that there will be no athletes swimming if those standards are not met,” World Aquatics chief executive Brent Nowicki told this masthead in May.

“We could be swimming alongside the Taj Mahal and we wouldn’t care, we want that water to be clean.

“The reputation of the sport is too risky, the reputation of health is too risky. We’ve got a lot of examples throughout the last 10 years of swimmers being contaminated in water and getting terribly sick.

“We don’t want to have to answer to a family as to why their medallist is in the hospital three days after the event.

“That’s a call we don’t want to take. So for us, iconic location or not, safety is the priority.”

Last year marathon swimming events were cancelled because the water was too dirty.

Originally published as Swim officials will seek another venue if tests show dirty pool