Stinky Seine: Where fish go to die and Olympics poo protests are born

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How has a river carrying so much harmful bacteria that swimming in it has been illegal for a century become an official swimming venue at the 2024 Olympics?

The Seine is many things. A river stretching almost 800km through northern France. A UNESCO World Heritage site immortalised in art and literature. The home of Joan of Arc’s ashes and half of Paris’ trash. The place of a planned mass poo protest.

When Paris first hosted the Olympics in 1900, it held swimming events in the river. But it banned public swimming in Seine in 1923 - the year before the Games returned. Even then, locals continued to illegally dive off the Pont d’Iena during the summer, but gradually ceased as the pollution became worse. By the 1990s, the section running through Paris was recorded as containing one of the highest levels of heavy metals in the world.

The River Seine is still failing water quality tests, one month before it is scheduled to host open-water events and the swimming leg of the triathlon.Last year, World Aquatics cancelled the Open Water Swimming World Cup in Paris after officials determined the Seine’s water quality “remained below acceptable standards for safeguarding swimmers’ health”. The global governing body added it was “clear that further work” was needed to “ensure robust contingency plans are in place” for the Olympics.

 

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