While the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games is exactly a month away, uncertainties still weigh on swimming in the Seine. “To date, the conditions are not met for swimming in the Seine”, indicated Wednesday morning on - Marc Guillaume, the prefect of the Ile-de-France region. In question: the high flow of the Seine which was “this morning still more than 480 m3/second”, specified the prefect. This high flow, caused by precipitation at the end of a rainy spring, led to the postponement of a rehearsal of the opening ceremony, which was scheduled for Monday.
“We have not had weather conditions, for six months, which are very classic,” recalled Marc Guillaume, stressing that the Swimming Plan carried out for almost a decade by the State and the Ile-de-France communities, with 1.4 billion euros of investment to make the Seine and the Marne swimmable, “not enough if the weather is autumn or winter weather”. “We need summer weather conditions to reach us”he continues, while the first events in the river will take place at the end of July (triathlon on July 30 and 31 and August 5; swimming-marathon on August 8 and 9 and parathriathlon on September 1 and 2).
The regional prefect intends to bathe in the Seine, to set an example, “the day we can”. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who postponed her historic plunge into the Seine due to bad weather and early legislative elections, plans to swim the week of July 15 “or the week after”that of the opening ceremony.
Marc Guillaume is also confident that the opening ceremony will be held on the Seine on July 26. “The flow has dropped significantly since this weekend, and in July, it will be a summer flow,” explains the regional prefect. The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games is to take place in the form of a six-kilometer nautical parade on the river, but several rehearsals had to be postponed due to the high flow of the Seine, caused by heavy rainfall.
