MOSCOW, August 3, Andrey Simonenko. President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach called the Olympic triathlon competition on the Seine River sensational.
On Tuesday, the men's competition scheduled for July 30 was postponed to Wednesday due to water contamination. The reason for this was the rain that fell in Paris on August 26 and 27. Earlier, a training swim for triathletes at the Games, which was supposed to take place on Monday morning, was canceled due to contaminated water in the Seine. Previously, training on Sunday was canceled for the same reason.
Following the results of Wednesday's competition, Canadian triathlete Tyler Mislavchuk vomited at the finish line of the Olympic distance. The triathlon tournament in Paris took place in 30-degree heat and consisted of a 1.5 km swim along the Seine River, a 40 km bike race and a 10 km run.
““The triathlon was sensational, or should I say “Sensational”, I don’t know if you understood me, but I tried,” Bach said at the briefing.
The Seine River has been closed to swimming since 1923 due to high levels of E. coli and other pathogenic bacteria. The mayor's office reported that for the sake of the competition, many treatment facilities and drainage systems were updated, the cost of water purification measures amounted to about 1.4 billion euros. Water samples taken from the river at the end of June showed that it is possible to swim in the Seine.