Parisians got a foretaste of the deluge of sporting events to come at the Olympics on Wednesday as Mayor Anne Hidalgo finally completed her long-awaited mission to swim in the Seine.
While it’s not quite the clear blues of the Caribbean, Hidalgo, had only good words to say after she took the plunge into the river’s murky waters. And she got to share the fun — she was joined by Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris 2024 Games. (Unfortunately for them, President Emmanuel Macron was otherwise engaged.)
The pair swam along the stretch of the river that passes City Hall and Notre Dame Cathedral, to demonstrate the markedly-improved hygiene levels of the grubby inner-city waterway.
“It’s a dream day,” Hidalgo said after the dip, calling the achievement “a milestone” and “a major legacy.”
“The promise was kept. It was a lot of work, but we did it,” she exalted. Swimming in the Seine has been banned for more than a century.
The swimming bet has been a running joke of the upcoming Games, which will open on July 26 with an outdoor ceremony along the banks of the Seine. Hidalgo had promised to take a dip back in January, penciling in a date for the end of June.
But after Macron party-pooped the Olympics by announcing early elections — and amid enduring concerns over water quality — Hidalgo rescheduled the dive for this week.
A few weeks ago, despite the €1.4 billion poured into the clean-up operation, sample tests remained questionable: bacteria indicating the presence of fecal matter were found to be as much as 10 times authorized limits.
However, according to more recent results, heavy rains as of late have made the river ready for open-water swimming and triathlon, green-lighting Hidalgo’s mission.
The citizens of Paris don’t all share Hidalgo’s enthusiasm: hoards have promised to use the river in a way akin to that of their forefathers, taking a dump on the day of Hidalgo’s swim to express their disapproval at the Olympic parade. (Though other than the deluge of memes, there have been no reports of the organic act of mass-protest taking place.)
You’re up, Emmanuel.