Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo makes good on vow to swim in the Seine river to show its safe for the Summer Games

July 17, 2024 Benjamin Hughes

Paris — The City of Light placed the Seine river at the heart of its bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The opening ceremony will be held along the Seine, and several open water swimming events during the games are set to take place in the river.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo had vowed that the Seine would be clean enough to host those events — the swimming marathon and the swimming stage of the triathlon, plus a Paralympic swimming event — despite swimming in the badly contaminated river being banned 100 years ago.

To prove her point, she had promised to take a dip herself, and on Wednesday, she made good on the vow, emerging from the water in a wetsuit and goggles to proclaim it “exquisite.”

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swims in the Seine, in Paris — Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swims in the Seine to demonstrate that the river is clean enough to host outdoor swimming events at the Paris Summer Olympics later this month, in Paris, France, July 17, 2024.

JOEL SAGET/Pool/REUTERS

Hidalgo dived in near her office at City Hall and Paris’ iconic Notre Dame Cathedral, joined by 2024 Paris Olympics chief Tony Estanguet and another senior Paris official, along with members of local swimming clubs.

sports minister even took a dip on Saturday, declaring the water “very good.”

If the Seine is fit to swim in for the Olympics, Hidalgo will have managed to accomplish a feat with her nearly decade-long cleanup project that eluded a previous effort by former Mayor Jacques Chirac (who then became French president), when he led the capital city for almost three decades from 1977.

Elaine Cobbe

Elaine Cobbe is a CBS News correspondent based in Paris. A veteran journalist with more than 20 years of experience covering international events, Cobbe reports for CBS News’ television, radio and digital platforms.

Source: cbsnews.com