How hard could it be to have a planned back up course planned and communicated so that athletes could be aware. It seems like very basic contingency planning and this is the Olympics !
I do not agree with the comment on showcasing Paris being the be all end all if it means the tri has the risk of being a duathlon. Just plan the back up course/location and hope it’s not needed.
It would be an epic failure if the Olympic tri ended up a duathlon even if the expectation is water quality will be better at the time at least have a plan communicated well ahead of time.
Why are you talking about the possibility of becoming a duathlon ?
The plan, if a huge storm comes and rain exceed the new basin capacity, is to postpone by a few days. Not to turn it into a duathlon.
It was right in the official statement from the committee reported in a few articles yesterday . Unless that was misquoted but it was in more than one press report. I’ll see if I can find the links.
Couple screen shots of some of what was reported yesterday. Hopefully this is not a serious possibility.
I cannot see the screenshots, however I read the article from the Guardian. Its is in contradiction with everything else I read, I don’t think it is a meaningful possibility. Clicbait or “Putaclic” Journalism as we say in French.
I don’t think this possibility justifies spending a tremendous amount of money to prepare a second location for the race. Particularly for triathlon which, lets be honest, not a lot of people care about. And no, even if I’m really not a city guy, there nothing that comes close to this particular location.
Couple screen shots of some of what was reported yesterday. Hopefully this is not a serious possibility.
I cannot see the screenshots, however I read the article from the Guardian. Its is in contradiction with everything else I read, I don’t think it is a meaningful possibility. Clicbait or “Putaclic” Journalism as we say in French.
I don’t think this possibility justifies spending a tremendous amount of money to prepare a second location for the race. Particularly for triathlon which, lets be honest, not a lot of people care about. And no, even if I’m really not a city guy, there nothing that comes close to this particular location.
I saw it on the tv. It was a recording of the evening news discussion programme. I don’t think it is clickbait, I think it is a real possibility.
Couple screen shots of some of what was reported yesterday. Hopefully this is not a serious possibility.
I cannot see the screenshots, however I read the article from the Guardian. Its is in contradiction with everything else I read, I don’t think it is a meaningful possibility. Clicbait or “Putaclic” Journalism as we say in French.
I don’t think this possibility justifies spending a tremendous amount of money to prepare a second location for the race. Particularly for triathlon which, lets be honest, not a lot of people care about. And no, even if I’m really not a city guy, there nothing that comes close to this particular location.
Except the current Ironman World Champion is French. And the French have multiple realistic medal opportunities in both male and female categories in triathlon.
So it would almost be like Norway not having their ski jump tower built in time if the Olympics were there.
Point being the French Olympic committee is going to care much more about a sport they have a strong chance of winning than one they don’t.
So enter tinfoil hat mode: do the French benefit a little more if it’s a duathlon or shortened swim?
Good article that seems to explain where things stand - it seems the swim will be a go if the readings are even within range of the acceptable levels……it states they can allow the swim even if over stated tolerance levels which is interesting.
It’s a cool venue and I get the desire to make it work. Not sure I’d want to be swimming 10k in it like the marathon swim !
The French would benefit most out of there being a swim, especially the men!
Then there should be no chance of the swim not happening. If it was a sport with no medal chances, yes I could see them not caring. But they could have 4+ medals in triathlon alone.
An article about British Triathlon’s infection prevention plan.
It’s all very well disinfecting the athletes straight after the race - but they will be drinking on the bike and run before that!
https://www.theguardian.com/...athlon-swim-in-seinehttps://www.pressreader.com/australia/the-guardian-australia/20240417/282553023282245
With respect, this is not a ‘prevention’ plan, it’s a risk mitigation plan. Can’t stop ingestion of water when swimming.
They describe how they will try to minimise infection (from all sources not just swimming water) and this applies to training sessions too. These protocols will be rehearsed, adopted for the month before, and actually, albeit a pain, would be good practice in the run up to every WTCS event (and worth considering for long course athletes too).
But it will be practical: the aim is to reduce to ALARP so in a competitive environment, of course drinking and eating is just a risk that will have to be accepted. But have disinfectant wipes readily available during training.
Get the kefir in!
My understanding is no one’s been allowed to swim in that river for decades as its that filthy, it just blows the mind that a back up course wasn’t thought about!
Paris triathlon was held from 2007 to 2012 with the swimming happening in the Seine, first in Bois de Boulogne then just in front of the Tour Eiffel for the last 3 years. It was a fantastic event, I specifically remember 2010 when the transition area was on the Pont d’Iena, which was closed for traffic for the weekend. Great memories.
I think in 2012 they had us sign a discharge on the water quality, but thousands of people swam (and drank some) in the Seine without any major issues. Or died silently
For the first years, they specifically highlighted how the water quality had greatly improved, mentioning lots of fish species back in the river.
Paris Police authorities (who at the time were fed up with securing yet another sporting event in Paris, and looked for a way to end it) finally involved the regional health authority in 2013, who of course said swimming in the Seine was not safe, and that killed the event for several years.
My point is that the average water quality is not worse now than it was 10 years ago, it is in fact better (OK, perhaps not by a lot), given the constant improvement over the years. The big issue is definitely the constant rains / flooding we had in the past months (feels like living in Britain - pink), which explains the recent bad results. Unless July 2024 come as a BIG outlier in rain/storms (and even that should be balanced with the new retention bassin), the swim will be safe.
Paris triathlon was held from 2007 to 2012 with the swimming happening in the Seine, first in Bois de Boulogne then just in front of the Tour Eiffel for the last 3 years. It was a fantastic event, I specifically remember 2010 when the transition area was on the Pont d’Iena, which was closed for traffic for the weekend. Great memories.
I think in 2012 they had us sign a discharge on the water quality, but thousands of people swam (and drank some) in the Seine without any major issues. Or died silently
For the first years, they specifically highlighted how the water quality had greatly improved, mentioning lots of fish species back in the river.
Paris Police authorities (who at the time were fed up with securing yet another sporting event in Paris, and looked for a way to end it) finally involved the regional health authority in 2013, who of course said swimming in the Seine was not safe, and that killed the event for several years.
My point is that the average water quality is not worse now than it was 10 years ago, it is in fact better (OK, perhaps not by a lot), given the constant improvement over the years. The big issue is definitely the constant rains / flooding we had in the past months (feels like living in Britain - pink), which explains the recent bad results. Unless July 2024 come as a BIG outlier in rain/storms (and even that should be balanced with the new retention bassin), the swim will be safe.
I don´t think it is a good idea to risk so much with the water quality. Before that you must provide safety to the athletes…sure, Paris is beautiful, but I would move the race to the coast. There a MTR few days later and the athletes must be healthy (and as they are peaking, their inmune system is sort of weak, right?). They have plenty of racing in the olympics in Paris downtown: marathon, walk, cycling…
Couple screen shots of some of what was reported yesterday. Hopefully this is not a serious possibility.
I cannot see the screenshots, however I read the article from the Guardian. Its is in contradiction with everything else I read, I don’t think it is a meaningful possibility. Clicbait or “Putaclic” Journalism as we say in French.
I don’t think this possibility justifies spending a tremendous amount of money to prepare a second location for the race. Particularly for triathlon which, lets be honest, not a lot of people care about. And no, even if I’m really not a city guy, there nothing that comes close to this particular location.
Except the current Ironman World Champion is French. And the French have multiple realistic medal opportunities in both male and female categories in triathlon.
So it would almost be like Norway not having their ski jump tower built in time if the Olympics were there.
Point being the French Olympic committee is going to care much more about a sport they have a strong chance of winning than one they don’t.
So enter tinfoil hat mode: do the French benefit a little more if it’s a duathlon or shortened swim?
They could just put together four brick walls with a cemented floor, 100m long and 20 m wide and put buoys at the corners 90m apart length wise, and 10 m apart width wise. Stick it by the Eiffel tower and fill it for a day with 3 feet deep of water and start them and one end, make them swim 7 loops and exit them at the other end. Just fill it with garden hoses for the events, and then after the event take a bulldozer to it. Probably way cheaper than cleaning up the Seine (all in Pink). Make it an in water start because you can’t dive into 3 feet deep water.
This has to be one of the dumbest decisions and debates in recent Olympics history. France has an amazing, world class venue for a triathlon. Nice! They already have venues spread all over the country, nee the world, including Nice. Why they insist on forcing the swim in a polluted river is a face palm. Just move the event to Nice, and do the world a favor.
