CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Olympic officials have officially declared that the water quality in the River Seine is safe enough host the men’s and women’s triathlon races at the Paris games.
The event was originally scheduled to be held on yesterday but elevated levels of bacteria forced it to be delayed.
However today organisers have confirmed that the river complied with requisite quality standards, and has been assessed as compliant, just hours before the women dive in at 4:45pm (AEST) today.
The plan to have world class athletes swimming in a major tidal estuary in the centre of a major city of 11 million residents has been controversial since it was first announced several years ago – but the French remain stubborn as ever.
This decision has potentially generational repercussions, not just for today’s swimmers who may be exposed to a whole range of illnesses and industrial waste products – but also future Olympians.
Because it seems Paris is giving Brisbane some ideas.
As Queensland slowly drags the chain towards hosting an Olympics of their own in eight years time – the normalisation of long-distance river swimming has solved one of the many problems currently faced by organisers of the Brisbane games.
In 2032, visiting athletes will be treated to an exciting swimming course down the Brown Snake, weaving between the pylons of Brisbane’s 18 bridges, as well as the submerged Holden Commodore that were ditched in the river at the height of the city’s armed robbery boom in the late 1980s.
“It’ll be fine” says Premier Steven Miles.
“Everyone’s got a mate that went for a swim in the Brisbane river.”
In fact, the Premier says he’s thinking we make more use of our lovely Brown Snake.
“There’s no reason why we can’t hold the 1500m freestyle in there as well. It’d be even more entertaining if that race had a bend in it.”
“We might even fuck Chandler Aquatic Centre off and just do the diving events off the William Jolly and Go-Between Bridges”
This is still a better idea than hosting the athletics events at QSAC stadium, more to come.
