Alexander Smith is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital based in London.
It is supposed to be the unique centerpiece of Paris 2024: swimming events held in the river Seine thanks to an environmental rejuvenation for this romantic but polluted waterway. This week that aspiration was dealt a filthy reality check. The president of the Olympics has admitted that the triathlon swimming section could be postponed or canceled if pollution levels are still too high.
Doing so has meant vastly altering Paris’ sewage system, including a 13 million-gallon overflow tank called the Austerlitz Basin. Both French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo have promised to take a dip in the waters to prove their cleanliness. However, critics have accused officials of unnecessarily jeopardizing one of the Olympics’ iconic sports by trying to hold it in the Seine — no doubt an iconic showcase for both city and event.
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