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Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466
Anne Hidalgo (R), mayor of Paris, and Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games swim in the River Seine in Paris, France, July 17, 2024. /CFP
Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, the host city for the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics, swam on Wednesday in the River Seine as a show of confidence in the waterway's cleanliness ahead of the Games.
Accompanied by Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Hidalgo said the water was in "rather optimal conditions." Estanguet swam in the river as well.
"It's cool but not cold at all. We didn't want to go out," she said.
After a 100-year ban on bathing in the river, athletes will take the plunge in just a few days during the Games, Paris City Hall posted on its X account, adding that swimming in the Seine will also be open to the public as of next summer.
The French government has spent more than 1.4 billion euros (about $1.5 billion) since 2016 to make the Seine suitable for swimming.
For the mayor of Paris, the hosting of the Olympics has accelerated the process.
"When we clean the Seine, of course we will make it possible to prepare for the Olympics, of course we will be able to swim afterwards, but we also protect the rivers, for future generations," Hidalgo said.
The opening ceremony of the Paris Summer Olympics will be held on the Seine on July 26, and the triathlon and marathon swimming are also scheduled to take place in the host city's central waterway.