Olympics-British Triathlon positive France will deliver safe Seine for Games

British Triathlon has a beenthere, donethat attitude when it concerns water quality concerns in the leadup to huge competitions and trusts French authorities to provide a safe Olympics amid issues about contamination levels in the River Seine.

The triathlon and open-water swimming competitors at the Paris Olympics occur in the Seine and Games organisers have actually come under fire for refusing to organise a plan B if heavy rain makes the river, which relies on a recently built storage basin to help in reducing the threats of pollution, inappropriate for swimming.

Instead of an alternative place, organisers have contingency days for the open-water swimming and triathlon events, enabling them to reshuffle the schedule if essential.

Each and every single Olympic Games, Paralympic Games we have actually been to, there is generally something environmentally and generally water-related that we're handling, Mike Cavendish, director performance at British Triathlon, told .

So, in Tokyo, it was everything about the heat of the water. There were water quality issues in Rio. So this isn't brand-new for us. And everywhere we go beyond the Olympic and Paralympic Games again, we are generally dealing with something in the natural world that means that, environmentally, we've got some obstacles.

However we are completely comfortable that as far as we're concerned, the authorities have actually done about as great a job, I think, as they potentially could have done to this point. And we'll be prepared to go there, regardless of whether it winds up being a duathlon or a triathlon, and what the water quality may be.

Previously this year, the Surfrider Structure, a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to protect and showcase the significance of lakes, rivers, the ocean, waves, and coastlines, said that the Seine was not appropriate for bathing.

The independent tests they ran, nevertheless, were carried out outside the summertime - the period when the river is expected to be batheable at the 2024 Paris Games and next year for the public.

PARIS EXAMPLE

Surfrider would like access to the river banks to run more tests during the Olympics.

We ask the authorities to continue to admit to the riverbanks, to be able to continue to collect samples, Lucie Segalas, the Surfrider Foundation's Sports and Environment project supervisor, informed .

Paris's deputy mayor for sports Pierre Rabadan said this will not possible for security factors.

There are no sampling gain access to points that will be put in location for individuals who would want to take independent samples (of the Seine water) because first of all, they (evaluates done by Paris authorities) are done within a really particular structure, so that they can satisfy the bathing quality requirements, Rabadan told .

However all this is done totally separately (by labs employed by Paris authorities), so there are no problems on this subject. As for the access to the competition sites, because concerns have actually been asked, this will clearly not be possible for security factors.

I understand that individuals have questions. However what must be explained is that we are not having fun with the health of professional athletes or people. And we ourselves respond to scientific procedures and European policies on swimming.

Cavendish believes Paris has actually been doing whatever possible to provide a safe Games and that its efforts should act as an example for other big cities.

Paris doing what they're doing and trying to make the Seine a safe competitive arena, however also a safe bathing area, should be admired, he stated.

And I believe unless more countries and more cities attempt and do this, and they may not get it 100% right, and it might not work. But unless more locations do this, then we aren't going to be in a position where we have actually got more clean water for the public like you and I.

(source: Reuters)