River Seine is good to swim in, says Meares

Australian chef de mission Anna Meares says water quality in the River Seine has improved to acceptable levels and assured that athletes are happy to swim in it at the Olympics, despite contingency plans being unveiled.

French organisers are pushing ahead with an ambitious plan to hold the marathon swimming and triathlon events in the River Seine, which runs through the middle of Paris.

The river’s water quality has been an issue, with multiple recent readings showing unsafe levels of E. coli that could affect athletes’ health. Parisians have not been allowed to swim in the river for more than a century.

Speaking to reporters at her final press conference before departing for France, Meares said there was no reason to suggest the events won’t go ahead as planned.

“The Seine and the water quality is improving,” Meares said. “Currently, from what I heard from [AOC chief medical officer] Dr Carolyn Broderick, at the moment it is safe to swim in.

Australian chef de mission Anna Meares, photographed at Allianz Stadium, after giving a press conference before heading to Paris for the Olympics. Credit: James Brickwood

“Our chief medical officer … has been closely watching the tests each day as they come out. The numbers have dropped significantly, which means at the moment, Plan A is in play.

“There has been a lot of work gone into cleaning up the Seine and it’s been a project that has been occurring since 2017. This is a big legacy piece that Paris 2024 want to offer Parisians [the chance] to be able to swim in the river. A lot has been invested in making this happen.”

Organisers have stressed that marathon swimming (August 8-9) and triathlon (July 30-31 and August 5) will go ahead as planned, but did announce back-up plans last week.

If the Seine is not fit for swimming, triathlons will become duathlons – just cycling and running – while marathon swimming will be moved to a reserve site at Vaires-sur-Marne, which is about 35km out of Paris.

Swimmers in the Seine. Credit: Reuters/Marija Ercegovac

Meares said anything could change, but she is confident the plan will go ahead.

“We’ve recently had information shared with us about that Plan B … at the moment, I don’t think that is going to happen, but anything can happen,” Meares said.

Meares says Australia will name its flag bearers – one male and one female – on July 24 in Paris, two days before the opening ceremony, but it remains a closely guarded secret.

Olympic gold-medal winning canoeist Jess Fox and hockey star Eddie Ockenden are favourites to be named opening ceremony flag bearers. About 80 Australians will take part in the opening ceremony on the Seine, but might not have a toilet on board the boat they are on.

Australian chef de mission Anna Meares addresses the media in Sydney on Wednesday. Credit: James Brickwood

“Yes, I have the flag bearers in my head,” Meares said.

Australia will send 460 athletes to compete in 33 sports in Paris. It is the third-largest Australian team to compete at an overseas Olympics, behind Tokyo 2020 (486) and Athens (482).

Australia has more females on its team (55.6 per cent) than men and will be taking 10 Indigenous athletes.

Meanwhile, Meares did not offer a medal prediction or share the AOC’s hopes for the Olympics.

“I love Rohan Taylor’s quote, head coach from the swimming team: as many as we can get,” Meares said. “What excites me is the potential across the breadth of sports for medals to be won.

“There’s just no guarantee. I know we all want to talk about that medal tally at the end of the day, but for the athlete they’re there to try and win that medal that they’re invested in that contributes to the overall success of the team. So if we can keep that focus on that for them, it’s helpful.”

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.