Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the River Seine on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, and just days before the para-triathlon events.
A video she posted on her Instagram account on Tuesday showed her swimming, smiling brightly, surrounded by dozens of others in the water as the sun shone in the heart of the capital city.
“From next year, bathing in the Seine will become an essential part of the Parisian summer!” she wrote alongside the video, reaffirming her promise to have the river ready for public swimming by Summer 2025.
The Marie Arm, where she swam, is one of three Seine bathing sites set to open to the public by Summer 2025, along with the Grenelle Arm and the Bercy Site.
Cleaning up the Seine, a key promise of Paris’ bid to host the games, forms an important part of the touted “Olympic legacy.”
Ms. Hidalgo first swam in the Seine on 17 July, nine days before the Olympic Games began, fulfilling a promise she made to the world press over a hundred years after bathing in the river was prohibited.
Since 2016, the French state and local authorities have invested €1.4 billion to enable swimming in the Seine and its main tributary, the Marne.
However, on 30 July, the men’s triathlon event had to be postponed by a day for “health reasons” due to the Seine’s water being still too polluted, particularly due to heavy rains.
Like their Olympic counterparts, Paralympic athletes will dive into the Seine for the swimming segment of the para-triathlon on 1 and 2 September.
