Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo finally took the plunge into the long-polluted Seine River on Wednesday, fulfilling her promise to demonstrate its cleanliness ahead of hosting open swimming competitions during the 2024 Olympics – just nine days before the river will serve as the backdrop for the opening ceremony.
Wearing a wetsuit and goggles, Hidalgo dove into the river near the iconic City Hall, her office, and Notre Dame Cathedral.
Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet and Marc Guillaume, the top government official for the Paris region, joined her, along with swimmers from local clubs.
"The Seine is exquisite," said Hidalgo from the water. After emerging, she continued to praise: "The water is very, very good. A little cool, but not so bad." She also described the day as "a dream" and a "testament that we have achieved a lot of work," referencing the city's swimming plan launched in 2015.
They swam down the river for about 100 meters, alternating between crawl and breaststroke.
"After 20 years of doing sports in the river, I find it admirable that we are trying to clean it up," said Estanguet, who has won three Olympic gold medals in canoeing.
It's part of a broader effort to showcase the river's improved cleanliness ahead of the Summer Games, which will kick off July 26 with a lavish open-air ceremony including an athletes' parade on boats on the Seine. Daily water quality tests in early June indicated unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria, followed by recent improvements.
Swimming in the Seine has been banned for over a century. Since 2015, organizers have invested $1.5 billion to prepare the Seine for the Olympics and to ensure Parisians have a cleaner river after the Games. The plan included constructing a giant underground water storage basin in central Paris, renovating sewer infrastructure and upgrading wastewater treatment plants.
Originally planned for June, Hidalgo's swim was postponed due to snap parliamentary elections in France. On the initial date, the hashtag "jechiedanslaSeine" ("I'm pooping in the Seine") trended on social media as some threatened to protest the Olympics by defecating upstream.
That didn't deter Hidalgo, who carefully entered the river Wednesday using a ladder on an artificial pond set up for the event. Seven security boats were deployed for the occasion.
The upper banks were crowded with curious spectators.
"I wouldn't have missed that for anything in the world," said Lucie Coquereau, who woke up early to get the best view of Hidalgo's swim from the Pont de Sully bridge overlooking the swimming site.
Enzo Gallet, a competitive swimmer who has taken part in France's national open-water championship, was among the athletes invited to test the Seine alongside the Paris mayor.
The 23-year-old swam just a few meters from Hidalgo. "Her crawl form was pretty good," he said, emerging from the water. "It's pretty special to be among those who swam in the middle of Paris for the first time in a long, long time."
After the officials had left the Seine riverbanks, many swimmers were still in the water, some playing catch with a ball and others practicing their dives from the artificial pond – all in a festive mood.
Other politicians have promised to clean up the Seine. Jacques Chirac, the former French president, made a similar pledge in 1988 when he was Paris mayor, but it was never realized.
Hidalgo followed in the footsteps of French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera, who swam in the Seine on Saturday wearing a full-body suit.
Concerns over the Seine's flow and pollution levels have persisted, prompting daily water quality tests by the monitoring group Eau de Paris. Results in early June indicated unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria, followed by recent improvements.
The Seine will host several open water swimming events during the Games, including marathon swimming at the Olympic Games and the swimming legs of the Olympic and Paralympic triathlons.