The Olympic Marathon swim test has been canceled this week over concerns with the conditions of the Seine River in Paris, France.
World Aquatics announced on Tuesday that they were canceling the test exercise due to concerns with pollution in the Seine River. Concerns over fluctuating bacteria levels in the historically polluted waterway have persisted throughout The Games.
The river, slated to host the swimming segment of the triathlon and the marathon swimming events, has been under scrutiny as athletes prepare to compete in its challenging waters.
“Earlier today, World Aquatics made the decision to cancel the 6 August Marathon Swimming familiarization due to water quality concerns,” World Aquatics said in a news release obtained by Newsweek. “The water quality review showed E. coli levels ranged from 326 to 517 (considered “very good” to “good”) at the four collection points taken on 5 August between 5:00 and 6 a.m.”
“Laboratory analysis of the Seine’s Enterococci levels for 5 August was available at 11 a.m. today. These most recent Enterococci results demonstrate an improvement in the Seine’s water quality, but one of the four tests still did not meet acceptable World Aquatics water quality standards,” the news release added.
The news release also noted that World Aquatics and the Paris Olympics “remain confident” that the men’s marathon swim on Friday and women’s on Thursday “will proceed as planned.”
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On Monday, the Olympic triathlon mixed relay took place in the Seine River and data released by World Triathlon showed that pollution levels remained within acceptable limits for the triathlon relay course.
Last month, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine River near City Hall and Notre Dame Cathedral in the center of the city.
“The water is very, very good. A little cool, but not so bad,” Hidalgo remarked, emerging from the river, Wednesday.
Hidalgo made similar comments while speaking about the upcoming events in the river saying “We will of course wait to get the results of the water quality but the event will take place because there’s been a clear improvement of the weather these past few days.”
“So I’m really proud and happy and to all those who want to continue saying it’s impossible to depollute a river, I tell them, ‘Yes it’s possible, we did it.'”
Weather conditions play a major role in the Seine River’s water quality. Heavy rains often cause wastewater and runoff to spill into the river, leading to elevated bacteria levels. In contrast, warm temperatures and the sun’s ultraviolet rays help to reduce bacterial contamination.