‘I felt and saw things I don’t want to think about’ – Olympics 2024 triathlete reveals what swimming in Seine was like
A BELGIAN triathlete has opened up on what it’s like to swim in the River Seine after much controversy around the water quality this summer.
Training sessions were cancelled and events had been postponed with dangerously high pollution levels preventing athletes from entering the water.
However, the triathlons finally got underway this week after late tests and meetings passed the river as usable for the races.
But Belgian star Jolien Vermeylen was less than impressed with the conditions of the water, despite getting the green light by the Paris 2024 big wigs.
Speaking to VTM after the race, she said: “I drank a lot of water, so we’ll know tomorrow if I’m sick or not.
“It doesn’t taste like Coca-Cola or Sprite, of course.
“While swimming under the bridge, I felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much.
“The Seine has been dirty for a hundred years, so they can’t say that the safety of the athletes is a priority. That’s bulls***!”
City swimming has been banned in Paris for over a century due to water quality issues.
And despite a major €1billion regeneration project, the water was still not up to standards in the expected time frame – leading to the cancellations and postponements.
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A statement from Paris 2024 and World Triathlon ahead of the race today stated: “Paris 2024 and World Triathlon reiterate that their priority is the health of the athletes.”
Vermeylen went on to explain the measures she went to to try and avoid being ill after the race with potentially dangerous levels of E.Coli previously detected in the water.
What is E.Coli?
ESCHERICHIA coli – or E. coli – is a bacteria that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms.
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a bacteria that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms.
Most E.coli strains are harmless, but some can cause serious food poisoning.
Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) is a bacterium that can cause severe foodborne disease.
In most cases, the illness is self-limiting, but it may lead to a life-threatening disease including haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), especially in young children and the elderly.
An E. coli infection is a sickness you get from the E.coli bacteria. It causes a lot of diarrhea-related illnesses like traveler’s diarrhea (known by many other names including Montezuma’s revenge) and dysentery.
It also causes illnesses outside your intestines like pneumonia and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.
She added: “If the race hadn’t taken place, it would have been a disgrace for the organisation, for Paris, for France.
“It was now or never, and they couldn’t cancel the race completely either.
“Now they just have to hope that there won’t be too many sick athletes. I took pro-biotics, I drank my Yakult, I couldn’t do more.
“I had the idea of not drinking water, but yes, it failed. Just like I had the idea of not falling but that failed too.”
Ultimately Vermeylen finished 24th in the standings when today’s Women’s Triathlon took place.
But there was plenty of success for Great Britain as Beth Potter swooped bronze in the murky waters.
And Team GB secured a gold in the Men’s Triathlon thanks to Alex Yee’s spectacular comeback to cross the finish line just six seconds ahead of New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde.
