Usain Bolt (right), Jamaican retired sprinter, attends the torch presentation on a quay of the River Seine in Paris, France, on Tuesday. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
People will soon be legally and safely swimming in the River Seine in Paris following the end of a 100-year prohibition triggered by dangerous levels of pollution.
The return of swimmers to the Seine was made possible by a multimillion-dollar cleanup that began in 2016, as part of the city's preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which will feature an opening ceremony based on and around the river. Events, including the triathlon and swim marathons, will be held in it.
The cleanup will be completed in the coming months and the city's government hopes the end of the prohibition that began in 1923 and the sight of top athletes going head-to-head in the river will encourage people to venture back into the water.
"When people see athletes swimming in the Seine with no health problems, they'll be confident themselves to start going back in the Seine," the city's deputy mayor responsible for the Olympics, Pierre Rabadan, told the BBC. "It's our contribution to the future."
Rabadan said the 1.4-billion-euro ($1.6-billion) cleanup will be among the city's main legacies from the Olympics.
Paris is also working on three new outdoor public areas that are slated to open by 2025 that will allow people easy access to the reawakened river, for swimming and sunbathing.
Before its rebirth, the river had been blighted for decades with high levels of pollution caused by industry and household sewage. New processing facilities, the relocation of some industrial giants, and a huge underground water storage tank that can swallow up 20 Olympic-size swimming pools of runoff water following heavy rainfall should ensure much less pollution in the river in the years to come.
The cleaner water has ensured the Seine is also more hospitable toward fish and other aquatic life, with the three species of fish found in the river in the 1960s now joined by more than 30 other species; with some species measuring 2 meters in length. The river is also now home to shellfish, aquatic insects, sponges, and crayfish that were absent before, and it has attracted underwater plants that will help keep it clean.
With some activities, including a high-diving competition, having already been staged in the river in recent weeks, and with swimming clubs already dipping their toes in the water, the Agence France-Presse said little stands in the way of Olympics organizers creating an opening ceremony on and around the river that meets President Emmanuel Macron's call for the "most memorable" ever.
The Olympics opening ceremony on July 26, 2024 will likely feature 10,000 athletes on more than 100 boats and officially mark not only the start of the competition but the return of the river to the people of Paris.
The Eiffel Tower casts its shadow on the Iena bridge, crossing the Seine river and leading to the Trocadero monument, July 11, 2023 in Paris. (PHOTO / AP)
Ready for the Games
On Wednesday, Macron said France will "for sure" be ready to host the Olympics despite the numerous organizational challenges of hosting the event.
With a year to go to the opening ceremony of the Games, there have been concerns over France's readiness on a range of issues from hotels to security.
"France is ready, it will be ready for sure," Macron told Franceinfo radio in an interview from the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia which he is currently visiting.
He acknowledged there was "an organizational challenge", citing issues including accommodation, ticketing, transport and security.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach was in Paris on Tuesday to mark Wednesday's one-year-to-go anniversary.
Bach sailed down the River Seine to get a taste of the unprecedented opening ceremony for the Games.
The ceremony will take the event out of its traditional stadium setting and onto more than 100 boats that will carry teams along the Seine past the Eiffel Tower.
Bach also got his hands on the newly unveiled Olympic torch.
Usain Bolt, the now-retired Jamaican sprinter who won eight Olympic gold medals, also tried out the torch and promised: "I will be here next year with my family."
Agencies contributed to this story.
