Olympic swimming in the Seine highlights efforts to clean up city rivers worldwide
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Thursday, August 3, 2023
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This ban was in place to stop people immersing themselves in river waters polluted by stormwater, sewage and chemicals.
Key Points:
- This ban was in place to stop people immersing themselves in river waters polluted by stormwater, sewage and chemicals.
- The clean waters of the swimmable Seine are being promoted as a positive legacy of these games.
- But it’s not the first time Olympic swimming events have been held in the famous river.
A brief history of river swimming
- She is typically represented standing on a boat: clambering over and swimming under the river’s vessels was clearly for mere mortals.
- Swimming in rivers has a very long history related to pleasure and politics.
- Competitive river swimming remained common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
- Even Chinese leader Mao Zedong used river swimming to promote his health and political image.
- However, like the 1900 obstacle race, organised and informal river swimming in cities became uncommon.
The quest for swimmable cities
- The Seine will reopen for swimming thanks to a €1.4 billion (A$2.3 billion) regeneration project to “reinvent the Seine”.
- It began in 2017 and includes floating hotels, walkways and other social spaces as well as swimming and diving areas.
- The revival of swimming in the Seine is just one example of how outdoor and “wild” swimming is contributing to better caring for rivers.
- While we know this is good for people, public interest in clean, swimmable waterways for our own health, wellbeing and pleasure can also have great benefits for these environments.