The Belgian triathlon team has announced they will not be participating in the mixed triathlon finals scheduled for Monday due to one of their athletes, Claire Michel, being hospitalized after swimming in the Seine River. This decision was made by the country’s Olympic Committee following discussions with the athletes and their support personnel.
The committee expressed dissatisfaction with the Paris Olympics organizers, noting that it hopes lessons will be learned for future triathlon competitions to reduce uncertainty for athletes and support personnel alike.
Claire Michel, a member of the relay team, is unable to participate in the competition as she has fallen ill after being hospitalized for four days. Although the committee did not elaborate on the specifics, local media reports suggest that Michel may have contracted an E.coli bacterial infection after swimming in the murky waters of the Seine River.
The athlete reportedly fell ill shortly after finishing 38th in the women’s triathlon competition on Wednesday. However, it has not been definitively established whether she contracted the bacteria from the river.
This development comes after the Swiss triathlon team announced they had to replace Adrien Briffod with Simon Westermann due to Briffod contracting a gastrointestinal infection. The team stated that it was still unclear if Briffod’s illness was related to the Seine River.
The Belgian team has been highly critical of the condition of the Seine River, with multiple athletes publicly speaking out about their experience swimming in it. Jolien Vermeylen, who finished 24th in Wednesday’s event, described her experience as unsettling and highlighted the polluted state of the river, claiming that it has been dirty for a hundred years and safety is not a priority.
Concerns about the water quality of the highly-polluted river had persisted long before the games. A $1.5 billion project aimed at cleaning up the Seine River produced mixed results and was marred by various mishaps, including the release of a large amount of sewage into the river shortly before the Olympics began.
Despite concerns about the water quality, French authorities insisted on holding open-water competitions in the Seine River, with several senior officials taking a swim to demonstrate its safety. However, French President Emmanuel Macron, who had made a half-hearted pledge to take a dip himself, ultimately chose not to do so.