Swimming in the Seine before the 2024 Olympics: “I will go”, announces Emmanuel Macron

“Chiche?”, Emmanuel Macron could retort to himself. “For the Seine and the Marne, there was an extraordinary investment made by the municipalities, the State (...) Swim there? And how ! There were commitments made. I will go…” declared the President of the Republic with bravado this Thursday, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Olympic Village. “I won’t tell you the date, you risk being there,” added the tenant of the Élysée.

The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games (July 26-August 11; August 28-September 8) must indeed be the event of all possibilities in terms of swimming in the Seine. The triathlon and open water swimming events must, for example, start from the Alexandre-III bridge which connects the Grand Palais to Les Invalides. These events are, however, threatened by the pollution of the river water.

At the beginning of February, it was the city councilor of the capital, Anne Hidalgo, who affirmed in an interview with Ouest-France that she would indeed dive into the Seine before the Olympics, in July, a few days before the triathlon swimming event planned in the river. The location of the dive has already been identified: “At Pont-Marie, where swimming will be permanent after the Olympic Games. It will be a beautiful dive full of symbolism.” In the same interview, the socialist invited Emmanuel Macron to join her. “If he wants to come, he will obviously be welcome,” she said.

Swimming in the Seine is an Arlesienne. In 1988, then mayor of the capital, Jacques Chirac declared: “In five years, we will be able to swim in the Seine again. And I will be the first to do it.” The former President of the Republic never honored his promise. Swimming in the river, which was already practiced under the Ancien Régime, was banned in Paris in 1923 by a prefectural decree. Likewise, a river brigade constantly patrols to prevent diving.

Since 2016, the State and local authorities in Ile-de-France have invested around 1.4 billion euros to make the Seine and the Marne, its main tributary, swimmable. But last summer, the organizers of the Paris Olympic Games faced serious disappointments during test events.

Before the cancellation of two triathlon events (para and mixed), it was the open water swimming events that had to be canceled due to pollution caused by an unusual summer rain episode.