Climate crisis to blame for delay to triathlon, say Paris Olympic organisers

Olympic organisers have blamed the climate crisis for the postponement of the men’s triathlon on Tuesday, saying: “We can’t control the weather.”

Paris 2024 said that the equivalent of the annual rainfall for July had fallen on the city on Friday and Saturday, leading to higher than permitted faecal bacteria known as E. coli entering the Seine and forcing it to delay the race for safety reasons.

Related: Unseasonal rainfall leaves Seine safe swimming plan in tatters at Paris 2024

After a failed 3.30am inspection, the men’s triathlon has been rescheduled for 10.45am local time on Wednesday – after the women’s race, which is due to start at 8am.

After the announcement, organisers faced a barrage of questions from the world’s media about whether their ambition to stage a made-for-TV triathlon had put spectacular images of Paris above athlete safety.

“We are living in the 21st century where unfortunately there are far more meteorological events that happen which are beyond the control of the organisers,” replied Aurelie Merle, the Paris 2024 director of sports, denying the accusation.

“We’ve gone from heavy rain to extreme heat in very few days. So it’s actually hard to control how it can affect the quality of the river.”

Merle also revealed that only one of four test sites on the Seine was below the threshold for E. coli on Tuesday. Two other sites were just above the limit and one was more elevated, she added, citing a range of 980 to 1,553. According to European rules, the safe limit is 900 colony-forming units per 100 millilitres.

“There have been significant improvements but let’s be very clear: we can’t control the weather,” added Merle. “The weather did have a significant impact and has been the cause of the readings we have today. But equally you see the build up period that we had a number of days of extreme conditions.”

Team GB’s Alex Yee and Beth Potter, who are respective favourites for the men’s and women’s races, now face an anxious wait to see if water quality improves enough to allow them to race.

The hope is that a full Olympic triathlon – consisting of a 1500m swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run – will take place on Wednesday, starting under the Pont Alexandre III bridge before going past several notable Paris venues.

If the races are delayed again, a contingency day is planned for 2 August. However, if the Seine continues to be unsafe to swim in, the men’s and women’s races will revert to a duathlon, with a 5km run replacing the 1500m swim.

There are further complications, however. Thunder and lightning is in the forecast over the next 24 hours, while the current in the Seine is also higher than expected too.

A Team GB source said that if the triathlon is delayed again on Wednesday with the rain forecast this week, that it will become a duathlon with the waters too dirty to compete.

“The forecast is such that it will only get worse,” they said. “For the competitors, it is not just about the quality of the water. Many have competed in far worse during their careers. It is about the speed of the currents if the waters are high.

“It will be much tougher if you have to swim against the current and the times will be much slower. It is a very tough ask for the competitors who are not strong swimmers.”

Kit McConnell, the International Olympic Committee’s sports director, said they were looking at ways for friends and family of those racing in the men’s event to still be able to watch them compete. “That’s being discussed at the moment just to see how we can accommodate that, two sessions into one tomorrow,” he added.

Efforts to make the river suitable for swimming have cost €1.4bn (£1.2bn). They have included the construction of a giant basin to capture excess rainwater and keep wastewater from flowing into the river, renovating sewer infrastructure and upgrading treatment plants.

Gergely Markus, sport director at World Triathlon, confirmed that extra heat protection measures would be put in place on Wednesday if the races went ahead, with temperatures due to be above 30c.

“We are working already with the teams to support even more the heat countermeasures,” he said. “And providing more ice, providing more water stations, so just to support the athletes, to make sure that they are safe.”