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Olympic Games’ €1.4bn clean-up aims to get Parisians swimming in the Seine | Paris Olympic Games 2024 | The Guardian

theguardian.com · 1,164 words · saved by 1 readers

Organisers expect 75% of identified bacterial pollution will be gone by the time the starting gun fires for the open water events Beside a sign saying “No swimming”, Pierre Fuzeau defiantly pulled on his swimming cap, slipped into the green water of the Ourcq canal on Paris’s northern edge, and set off with a strong front-crawl. The 66-year-old company director regularly joins his open-water swimming group for well-organised illegal dips, including in the River Seine, where swimming has been banned since 1923 largely as a result of the health risk from unclean water and bacteria from human waste. “I’ve never, ever been sick after swimming,” Fuzeau said. “There’s a wonderful feeling of freedom and boosting your immune system in cold water. There’s something great about being submerged in nature in an urban setting, it’s rare to have such a sense of aquatic freedom in the city, and the camaraderie with other swimmers is a joy.” Cleaning up the murky River Seine to make it swimmable for a

Swimmers diving into the Seine last August during a river familiarisation event. Photograph: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Swimmers diving into the Seine last August during a river familiarisation event. Photograph: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images Paris Olympic Games 2024 This article is more than 2 years old Olympic Games’ €1.4bn clean-up aims to get Parisians swimming in the Seine This article is more than 2 years old Organisers expect 75% of identified bacterial pollution will be gone by the time the starting gun fires for the open water events Angelique Chrisafis i

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