Paris mayor dips into the Seine River to showcase its improved cleanliness before Olympic events

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After months of anticipation, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the Seine River, fulfilling a promise to show the river was clean enough to host open swimming competitions during the 2024 Olympics. Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet joined her. It’s part of a broader effort to showcase the river’s improved cleanliness ahead of the Summer Games which will kick off July 26 and host open-water swimming competitions. (AP video by Alex Turnbull and Theo Collet)

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Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swims in the Seine river Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Paris. After months of anticipation, Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine Rive, fulfilling a promise she made in January nine days before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

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Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo enters the Seine river Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Paris. After months of anticipation, Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine Rive, fulfilling a promise she made in January nine days before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

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Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Tony Estanguet, resident of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee, swim in the Seine river Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Paris. After months of anticipation, Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine Rive, fulfilling a promise she made in January nine days before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

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Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, center at the top, swims in the Seine river, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Paris, France. After months of anticipation, Anne Hidalgo is set to swim in the Seine River later on Wednesday, fulfilling a promise she made in January nine days before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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Laurine, 3, holds a doll on her father Nicholas’ shoulders as she watches Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swimming in the Seine river, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Paris, France. After months of anticipation, Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine River Wednesday, fulfilling a promise she made in January nine days before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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People swim in the Seine river after in Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the river Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Paris. After months of anticipation, Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine Rive, fulfilling a promise she made in January nine days before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

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Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee, swim in the Seine river Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Paris. After months of anticipation, Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine Rive, fulfilling a promise she made in January nine days before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

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People swim in the Seine river after Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the river, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Paris, France. After months of anticipation, Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine River, fulfilling a promise she made in January nine days before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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People swim in the Seine river after Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the river Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Paris. After months of anticipation, Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine Rive, fulfilling a promise she made in January nine days before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

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Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swims in the Seine river, Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Paris. After months of anticipation, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the Seine River on Wednesday, fulfilling a promise she made months ago to show the river is clean enough to host open-swimming competitions during the 2024 Olympics — and the opening ceremony on the river nine days away.(Joel Saget, Pool via AP)

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Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, center, swims in the Seine river, Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Paris. After months of anticipation, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the Seine River on Wednesday, fulfilling a promise she made months ago to show the river is clean enough to host open-swimming competitions during the 2024 Olympics — and the opening ceremony on the river nine days away.(Joel Saget, Pool via AP)

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Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo exits the Seine river after a swim, Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Paris. After months of anticipation, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the Seine River on Wednesday, fulfilling a promise she made months ago to show the river is clean enough to host open-swimming competitions during the 2024 Olympics — and the opening ceremony on the river nine days away.(Joel Saget, Pool via AP)

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By TOM NOUVIAN

PARIS (AP) — Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip Wednesday in the Seine River, fulfilling a promise to show that the long-polluted waterway was clean enough to host swimming competitions during the 2024 Olympics as well as part of the opening ceremony, now only nine days away.

Daily water quality tests in early June indicated unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria, followed by recent improvements.

Clad in a wetsuit and goggles, Hidalgo plunged into the river near the imposing-looking City Hall, her office, and the Notre Dame Cathedral. Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet and the top government official for the Paris region, Marc Guillaume, joined her, along with swimmers from local swimming clubs.

“The Seine is exquisite,” said Hidalgo from the water. After emerging, she continued to rave, “The water is very, very good. A little cool, but not so bad.’' She also said today was “a dream” and a “testimony that we have achieved a lot of work,” referencing the city’s “swimming plan” that was launched in 2015.

They swam down the river for about 100 meters, switching between crawl and breaststroke.

“After twenty years of doing sports in the river, I find it admirable that we are trying to clean it up,” said Estanguet, who has three Olympic gold medals in canoeing.

It’s part of a broader effort to showcase the river’s improved cleanliness ahead of the Summer Games which will kick off July 26 with a lavish open-air ceremony that includes an athletes’ parade on boats on the Seine.

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Swimming in the Seine has been banned for over a century. Since 2015, organizers have invested $1.5 billion to prepare the Seine for the Olympics and to ensure Parisians have a cleaner river after the Games. The plan included constructing a giant underground water storage basin in central Paris, renovating sewer infrastructure, and upgrading wastewater treatment plants.

Originally planned for June, Hidalgo’s swim was postponed due to snap parliamentary elections in France. On the initial date, the hashtag ”jechiedanslaSeine” (“I’m pooping in the Seine”) trended on social media as some threatened to protest the Olympics by defecating upstream.

That didn’t deter Hidalgo, who carefully entered the river Wednesday using a ladder on an artificial pond, set up for the event. Seven security boats were deployed for the occasion.

The upper banks were crowded with curious spectators.

“I wouldn’t have missed that for anything in the world,” said Lucie Coquereau, who woke up early to get the best view of Hidalgo’s up from the Pont de Sully bridge that oversees the swimming site.

Enzo Gallet, a competitive swimmer who has taken part in France’s national open-water championship, was among athletes invited to test the Seine alongside the Paris mayor.

The 23-year-old swam just a few meters from Hidalgo. “Her crawl form was pretty good,” he said, emerging from the water. “It’s pretty special to be among those who swam in the middle of Paris for the first time in a long, long time.”

After the officials had left the Seine river banks, many swimmers were still in the water, some playing catch with a ball and others practicing their dives from the artificial pond — all in a very festive mood.

Other politicians have promised to clean up the Seine. Jacques Chirac, the former French president, made a similar pledge in 1988 when he was Paris mayor, but it was never realized.

Hidalgo followed in the footsteps of French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who swam in the Seine on Saturday wearing a full-body suit.

Concerns over the Seine’s flow and pollution levels have persisted, prompting daily water quality tests by the monitoring group Eau de Paris. Results in early June indicated unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria, followed by recent improvements.

The Seine will host several open water swimming events during the Games, including marathon swimming at the Olympic Games and the swimming legs of the Olympic and Paralympic triathlons.

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Barbara Surk in Nice, France contributed to this report

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Follow AP’s coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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