An Olympic athlete opened up about the things she experienced while swimming in the River Seine.
With all the controversy surrounding the water quality of the River Seine for the Paris 2024 Olympics, people were shocked to find out that the formerly postponed triathlon event was given the go-ahead earlier this week.
That's right - athletes were given the green light to jump into the Parisian river just days after it was revealed that the water quality was not good enough for people to be in it.
The World Triathlon released a statement addressing the issue, stating that the event could not take place due to concerns for the competitors' safety.
"Following a meeting on water quality held on 30 July at 3.30AM attended by Paris 2024, representatives of World Triathlon and their Technical and Medical Delegates, the International Olympic Committee, Météo France, the City of Paris and the Prefecture of the Île-de-France Region involved in carrying out water quality tests, [the] decision has been made to postpone the men’s triathlon event which was due to be held on 30 July at 8AM," they said in the formal statement posted to the website.
"Paris 2024 and World Triathlon reiterate that their priority is the health of the athletes," the statement continued. "The tests carried out in the Seine today revealed water quality levels that did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held."
They also blamed other factors that were out of their control, such as the weather.
However, just shortly after, it seems as though the water quality reached a more acceptable level and both the men's and women's triathlon took place.
In the end, Alex Yee representing Great Britain, and Cassandre Beaugrand, representing the hosting nation came out on top in their respective races.
However, questions were still swirling about the condition of the river and it seems as though one athlete is here to confirm those concerns.
Jolien Vermeylen, representing Belgium at this year’s Olympic Games, stated that she felt things she didn't want to think about in the water during her 1500-meter swim on Wednesday.
The Metro reported that Vermeylen told the TV channel VTM that she was worried about getting "sick."
"I drank a lot of water, so we’ll know tomorrow if I’m sick or not," she told the outlet. "It doesn’t taste like Coca-Cola or Sprite, of course."
She also stated that while swimming under the bridge, she "felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much."
"The Seine has been dirty for a hundred years, so they can’t say that the safety of the athletes is a priority. That’s bull****," she added.
For over 100 years, people have been restricted from swimming in the Seine due to high levels of harmful bacteria contaminating the water including E. coli, which can disrupt the microbiome of any human.
Despite this risk though, Vermeylen suggested that officials had no choice but to follow through.
"If the race hadn’t taken place, it would have been a disgrace for the organization, for Paris, for France," she continued. "It was now or never, and they couldn’t cancel the race completely either. Now they just have to hope that there won’t be too many sick athletes.
"I took pro-biotics, I drank my Yakult, I couldn’t do more. I had the idea of not drinking water, but yes, it failed," she concluded.