Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo promised to swim in the Parisian river before the Olympic Games. On Wednesday, July 17, she proved that the city had cleaned up the river enough for the athletes to compete in the once-dirty water.
Her swim was rescheduled twice because of high bacteria1 levels, but, on Wednesday, just nine days before the opening ceremony, the mayor jumped in, wearing a wetsuit and goggles2, and swam rapidly downstream.
Ms. Hidalgo, a socialist politician3 who has made many changes to the city, has been criticized for the high cost of cleaning the river.
Swimming was banned4 in the Seine in 1923. Ms. Hidalgo’s plan is for the river to be used not only for a handful of Olympic events but also, from next year, for public swimming at a few locations.
Next up for the Seine, on Friday, the 26th: the Opening Ceremony for the Olympic Games 2024!
- bacteria (plural noun of bacterium): any one of a group of very small living things that often cause disease — usually plural ↩︎
- wetsuit and googles (nouns): click here for a photo example ↩︎
- socialist politician (adjective noun phrase): an active person in government who is a member of the Socialist Party ↩︎
- banned (past tense verb; adjective): to forbid people from using (something) ↩︎
Ask the reader: Do you know where the public pools are in your area? Is public swimming allowed in the rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water where you grew up?
