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Paris Olympics Proceeds With Triathlon Swimming Race After Postponing Due to E. Coli-Polluted Seine River


After being postponed due to bacterial pollution in the Seine river, the Olympics's triathlon swimming races are going ahead today.

The subject of a running joke since the release of Xavier Gens’ hit shark movie “Under Paris” on Netflix, the Seine was supposed to be clean enough for the Triathlon and Marathon competitions since the beginning the Games. The ambitious project to clean the notoriously toxic river cost more than $1.5 billion, but it was soon plagued by scorn and even a social media campaign #JeChieDansLaSeine, which encouraged Parisians to defecate in the water earlier this month. The Paris mayor took a swim in the Seine (wearing a wetsuit and goggles) on July 17 alongside Tony Estanguet, the gold medal-winning French slalom canoeist who presides over the Olympics organizing committee, to drum up enthusiasm and show that it was safe enough.

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