Following last Wednesday's competition, Canadian triathlete Tyler Mislavchuk threw up at the finish line of the Olympic distance.
The Paris 2024 Games will be remembered not only for their sporting achievements, but also, unfortunately, for the scandal surrounding the Olympic triathlon. The Seine River, the venue for the swim, has become a real breeding ground for contamination, and the competition has become a cause for serious questions about Paris' readiness to host such a large-scale sporting event.
IOC President Thomas Bach, known for his optimism, was forced to admit that the triathlon had become "sensational" or, as he put it, "Seine-sational." The sensation was not so much the sporting spectacle as the problems with the water quality in the river. At the end of June, samples showed that it was possible to swim in the Seine. However, in July, a few days before the competition, the situation changed.
The rain that fell in Paris on July 26 and 27 washed large amounts of sewage into the river, causing pollution. As a result, the triathletes' training swim was canceled and the men's competition was postponed until the next day.
The Paris City Hall stated that many sewage treatment plants and drains were upgraded for the competition, and the cost of the water treatment measures amounted to about 1.4 billion euros. However, this investment turned out to be insufficient to solve the pollution problem.
Amid the environmental scandal, another unpleasant event occurred: Canadian triathlete Tyler Mislavchuk vomited at the finish line. According to medical experts, the cause could have been overwork, but this created even more alarm and confirmed fears about the quality of water in the Seine, as the athlete vomited directly on live TV right after the swim.
Kazakhstan's Ekaterina Shabalina withdrew from the race altogether as she felt sick. She said that she had swallowed water from the Seine, vomited the whole distance and even threw up.