Olympic Canadian triathlete Tyler Mislawchuk may have thrown up “10 times” after swimming in the River Seine — but it wasn’t due to the poor water quality.
“At my last Olympics, there was the injury and with all the stuff that happened there was a lot of what ifs. I had no what ifs on the day, I went for it, it was absolutely everything,” Mislawchuk, 29, explained to Triathlon Magazine Canada on Wednesday, July 31, after placing ninth in the men’s triathlon. “I vomited 10 times after the race … it got hot in the last laps.”
Swimming in the Seine, which has largely been banned since 1923, caused a lot of controversy before the Olympics as the water is known to be highly polluted with E.coli bacteria. However, the city of France made it their mission to clean the water with the Mayor of Paris even taking a swim in it ahead of the Olympics.
“The Seine is exquisite. The water is very, very good,” Mayor Anne Hidalgo shared with reporters in July, per AP News, adding that the day was “a dream” and a “testimony that we have achieved a lot of work.”
Heavy rainfall later caused more bacteria in the water, causing the men’s triathlon to be postponed one day over the poor water quality.
“Following a meeting on water quality held on 30 July at 3.30am attended by Paris 2024, representatives of World Triathlon and their Technical and Medical Delegates, the International Olympic Committee, Méteo France, the City of Paris and the Prefecture of the Île-de-France Region involved in carrying out water quality tests, decision has been made to postpone the men’s triathlon event which was due to be held on 30 July at 8am,” the World Triathlon explained in a statement at the time.
The statement continued: “Paris 2024 and World Triathlon reiterate that their priority is the health of the athletes. The tests carried out in the Seine today revealed water quality levels that did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held.”
As Team USA takes on the 2024 Paris Olympics, the American athletes have already made an impression at the summer Games. The 2024 Olympics kicked off on Friday, July 26, with an illustrious opening ceremony that took place entirely outdoors on the River Seine and featured performances from the likes of Celine Dion and Lady […]
Although athletes were skeptical about competing in the Seine, the races still ended up happening on Wednesday.
“I drank a lot of water, so we’ll know tomorrow if I’m sick or not. It doesn’t tast like Coca-Cola or Sprite, of course,” Belgian triathlete Jolien Vermeylen told reporters following the race. “While swimming under the bridge, I felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much. The Seine has been dirty for a hundred years, so they can’t say that the safety of the athletes is a priority. That’s bulls—t!”
