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Olympic athletes have a new worry about the Seine, and it's not the pollution
https://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/story/2024-08-04/seine-current-triathon-marathon-swimming-parisOlympic athletes have a new worry about the Seine, and it’s not the pollution
Athletes competing in the women’s triathlon dive into the Seine River in Paris on Wednesday. The river’s current created major difficulties in each of the triathlons. Will it create even bigger issues during the swimming marathon?(Martin Bureau / Associated Press)
By Kevin Baxter
Staff Writer
Aug. 4, 2024 3 AM PT
PARIS — People have been living along the Seine for more than 3,000 years and they’ve been dumping trash, human waste and whatever else they want to get rid of into the river for much of that time. Even Joan of Arc’s ashes were reportedly deposited there after she was burned at the stake in 1431.
So it should be no surprise that the river, which cuts through the center of Paris, is no longer pristine. But concerns about the water quality, which forced the men’s triathlon to be postponed a day, have lifted and now there’s a new worry ahead of Monday’s triathlon mixed relay and Thursday and Friday’s marathon swim events.
The currents.
“I got scared quite a few times because the current carried us away a lot. It wasn’t so easy to swim in the Seine,” Cassandre Beaugrand of France, winner of the women’s triathlon, said of the currents, which were nearly three times as strong as normal.
[..._]
Athletes competing in the women’s triathlon dive into the Seine River in Paris on Wednesday. The river’s current created major difficulties in each of the triathlons. Will it create even bigger issues during the swimming marathon?(Martin Bureau / Associated Press)
By Kevin Baxter
Staff Writer
Aug. 4, 2024 3 AM PT
PARIS — People have been living along the Seine for more than 3,000 years and they’ve been dumping trash, human waste and whatever else they want to get rid of into the river for much of that time. Even Joan of Arc’s ashes were reportedly deposited there after she was burned at the stake in 1431.
So it should be no surprise that the river, which cuts through the center of Paris, is no longer pristine. But concerns about the water quality, which forced the men’s triathlon to be postponed a day, have lifted and now there’s a new worry ahead of Monday’s triathlon mixed relay and Thursday and Friday’s marathon swim events.
The currents.
“I got scared quite a few times because the current carried us away a lot. It wasn’t so easy to swim in the Seine,” Cassandre Beaugrand of France, winner of the women’s triathlon, said of the currents, which were nearly three times as strong as normal.
[..._]