Seine draws thousands of Paris swimmers despite rainy July
In July, unusually wet weather forced the closure of the three swimming zones across the capital - including one just steps away from the Eiffel Tower - for 13 days.
READ ALSO
:
Everything you need to know about swimming in the Seine in Paris this summer✎
"We knew that the weather would be a variable factor," said city official Pierre Rabadan, adding that it "rained quite a lot in July".
"But we are extremely satisfied," he said.
Advertisement
On rainy days, the mid-19th-century Parisian sewage system often overflows, causing rain and wastewater to pour into the river.
A retention basin designed to contain this excess runoff has not spilled over into the Seine during the summer months, Rabadan said.
The city tests the water quality daily and closes sites if pollution levels are too high - with a
regularly updated online map
showing when sites are open or closed.
Rainfall forced the swimming sites to shut down just one day after the river's triumphant reopening in early July, which drew crowds eager to take a dip in the Seine for the first time in a century.
But the wet weather has not dampened that enthusiasm, with a record 5,700 people taking a dip in the waterway on July 13th.
"There are regulars who are eagerly awaiting the opening, those who go running and then swim, families, but also tourists," Rabadan said.
The seasonal opening of the Seine for swimming is seen as a key legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympics, when open-water swimmers and triathletes competed in its waters, which were specially cleaned for the event.
Ahead of the Olympic Games, authorities invested approximately €1.4 billion in improving the Seine's water quality.
The swimming spots are open to the public for free until August 31st.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
a day ago
- LeMonde
Trump creates task force to prepare for a 'historically successful' 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles
President Donald Trump on Tuesday, August 5, established a task force on the 2028 Olympic Games being held in Los Angeles that he said would ensure the event is "safe, seamless and historically successful." The 2028 Games will be the first Olympics to be hosted by the US since the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. "The LA Olympics is shaping up to be a wonderful moment for America. It's going to be incredible. It's so exciting," Trump said as he signed an executive order at the White House establishing the task force. The executive order calls for the task force to coordinate security and planning for the Games, streamline visa processing and credentialing for the athletes, coaches, media and other visitors coming to the US. Trump will serve as chair of the task force, with Vice President JD Vance as vice chair. Other members include a number of Cabinet secretaries and administration officials. At the event, Trump praised Gene Sykes, chair of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee board of directors, for the USOPC's move to effectively bar transgender women from competing in women's sports. "The United States will not let men steal trophies from women at the 2028 Olympics," Trump said. He questioned why he didn't hear applause from the room when he praised Sykes for it, and then received some claps from some people in the room. 'A great honor' Trump "considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, calling sports one of the president's "greatest passions." LA28 president and chair Casey Wasserman said the task force "marks an important step forward in our planning efforts and reflects our shared commitment to delivering not just the biggest, but the greatest Games the world has ever seen in the summer of 2028." Along with the 2028 Summer Games, Trump has said that the 2026 FIFA World Cup being hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico is among the events he's most looking forward to in his second term. In preparation for next year's competition, the governments of all three countries on Tuesday said they had held the first meeting of a trilateral coordinating council of government officials, industry leaders and security professionals discussing a variety of issues, including preparedness for any security threats ahead of the World Cup.
Local France
a day ago
- Local France
Seine draws thousands of Paris swimmers despite rainy July
The River Seine reopened to swimmers last month, marking the first time since 1923 that bathers could take a dip in the iconic waterway following a years-long cleanup effort. In July, unusually wet weather forced the closure of the three swimming zones across the capital - including one just steps away from the Eiffel Tower - for 13 days. READ ALSO : Everything you need to know about swimming in the Seine in Paris this summer✎ "We knew that the weather would be a variable factor," said city official Pierre Rabadan, adding that it "rained quite a lot in July". "But we are extremely satisfied," he said. Advertisement On rainy days, the mid-19th-century Parisian sewage system often overflows, causing rain and wastewater to pour into the river. A retention basin designed to contain this excess runoff has not spilled over into the Seine during the summer months, Rabadan said. The city tests the water quality daily and closes sites if pollution levels are too high - with a regularly updated online map showing when sites are open or closed. Rainfall forced the swimming sites to shut down just one day after the river's triumphant reopening in early July, which drew crowds eager to take a dip in the Seine for the first time in a century. But the wet weather has not dampened that enthusiasm, with a record 5,700 people taking a dip in the waterway on July 13th. "There are regulars who are eagerly awaiting the opening, those who go running and then swim, families, but also tourists," Rabadan said. The seasonal opening of the Seine for swimming is seen as a key legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympics, when open-water swimmers and triathletes competed in its waters, which were specially cleaned for the event. Ahead of the Olympic Games, authorities invested approximately €1.4 billion in improving the Seine's water quality. The swimming spots are open to the public for free until August 31st.
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
With six months to go, Winter Games organisers say they'll be ready
"Preparations are progressing steadily and according to the timeline we have set," Andrea Varnier, the chief executive officer of Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Organising Committee, told AFP. The Olympic opening ceremony is on February 6, though curling kicks off the action two days earlier. The Paralympics open a month later on March 6, though curling again breaks the ice two days beforehand. "We are currently in the core phase of operational implementation," said Varnier. Simico, the public company responsible for delivering the Olympic facilities, last week promised that "all the planned sports construction projects will be completed before the start of the Olympics". Organisers have made a point of delivering a low-cost Winter games after recent extravangances. Sochi, in Russia in 2014, cost at least $40 billion (34.5 bn euros at current exchange rates). Pyeongchang, in South Korea in 2018, came in at over $12 bn. The Covid-hit Games in Beijing in 2022 officially cost $4 bn, but financial analysts said that including infrastructure costs put the total at around $38bn. Milan-Cortina estimate their final bill will be 5.2 bn euros ($6 bn). Of that 3.5 bn euros is going on infrastructure and 1.7 bn euros on staging the Games. The Games are using a host of existing venues - emphasising the point by holding the closing ceremony in the almost 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheatre in Verona. Organisers say that avoiding new construction reduces not only costs but environmental impact. 'Compex global event' This approach also means the Games will stretch across northern Italy from Cortina in the Dolomites in the east 350 kilometres to the western suburbs of Milan, with other "clusters" spread through the Alps. "As with any complex global event, challenges are part of the process," said Varnier. "We are moving forward with confidence." One of the few new venues will be briefly the Milano Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena before assuming its intended role as the multi-purpose Eventim Arena after the Games. While organisers have managed to avoid being lumbered with a little-used speed-skating track by temporarily converting two exhibition halls at the Milan fair grounds, another group of sports with few participants created a political and construction headache. Because Italy did not have a track for the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton events, organisers considered using existing sites in Austria or Switzerland. Matteo Salvini, the second-in-command and Minister of Transport in Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government, insisted in late 2023 that the events be held in Italy. That meant a breakneck race to build a track in Cortina. It was completed just in time for pre-approval in March. Accommodation, which often poses a logistical and financial problem for Olympic organisers, seems to be locked up. The Milan Village, six seven-storey buildings to be converted into university dorms after the Games, will be delivered in "early October" despite the recent legal troubles of its developer, the Coima group. In Cortina, 377 prefabricated modules will be installed by the end of October. 'We'll be ready' While it is not clear if Italy's ski star Federica Brignone, who won the overall World Cup and a world title last season but smashed her left leg, will be fit to compete, the organisers revealed in July the design of the medals she would be chasing. They will weigh 420 grams in bronze and 500 grams in gold and in silver. The designer promised the medals will endure better than a few of those from last year's Paris Games. Some 220 medals, which contained a small piece of scrap metal from the Eiffel Tower, had to be replaced because they quickly turned black or rusted. "We cannot allow what happened in Paris to happen again," said their designer Raffaella Panie. That leaves just one unknown. The Italian meteorological service, contacted by AFP, said it was unable to predict whether there would be enough snow next February. The organisers said they were not worried. "We'll be ready," they said. © 2025 AFP
