Olympics 2024: Men's triathlon postponed due to high level of bacteria in Seine River

The men's triathlon race scheduled for Tuesday morning at the Paris Olympics 2024 has been postponed as the Seine River has been deemed unsafe for swimming.

The event has been rescheduled for Wednesday but the organisers could move it to Friday as a contingency.

As of now, it will take place after the end of the women's triathlon which will happen tomorrow.

“Despite the improvement on the water quality levels in the last hours, the readings at some points of the swim course are above acceptable levels,” World Triathlon, the international governing body for the sport at the Olympics, said in a statement on X.

“Paris 2024 and World Triathlon reiterate that their priority is the health of the athletes,” the statement said, referring to the organizers of the Games.

To prepare the Seine River for the Paris Olympics, the organisers have hired local water agencies and spent about $1.5 billion to clean up the Seine to stop the river from overflowing when it is overwhelmed by heavy rain.

As part of the development initiative, Paris built a massive underground basin to hold stormwater for treatment.

However, the efforts to make the river clean for swimming have not been enough.

In a recently published monitoring report revealed that E. coli level has gone up at the Pont Alexandre III bridge, where athletes are meant to start and finish the individual triathlon events following a heavy rain on July 20.

As per the World Triathlon competition rules, the level was deemed unsuitable for swimming.

Unsafe levels of E. coli cause gastrointestinal disease.