French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera swam in the Seine on Saturday, raising hopes the river will be clean enough for competitors at the Paris Olympics which start in less than a fortnight.
The 46-year-old former tennis champion was accompanied by para-triathlete Alexis Hanquinquant, who will be France's flag-bearer at the Paralympics opening ceremony on 28 August.
Weather permitting, the river will be the star of the opening ceremony of the Paris Games on 26 July and will then host the triathlon and the open water swimming.
Oudea-Castera, dressed in a body suit, slipped as she entered the Seine, but stole the thunder from Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, with whom she has notoriously poor relations.
Hidalgo had flagged up that she would swim on 17 July if the water quality was good enough.
Oudea-Castera seized her opportunity – exclusively filmed by news channel BFMTV – a day after Paris city hall said the Seine has been clean enough to swim in for most of the past 12 days.
Swimming competitions 'will take place'
The quality of the water met the required standard for "11 days or 10 days" of the past 12, city hall official Pierre Rabadan told RFI.
The Paris region has seen an unseasonably heavy amount of rain over recent weeks, which has raised the Seine's pollution levels as untreated sewage is washed into the river.
"We hope the weather will get a little better, but we are not worried about the possibility of holding the competitions," Rabadan said. "They will take place."
He added, however, that there may have to be "modifications", without giving details.
French authorities have invested 1.4 billion euros over the last decade in its Swimming Plan aimed at rendering the Seine clean enough to swim in.
Weather in Paris is forecast to be mostly dry over the final 14 days before the start of the Games.
France has a caretaker government since parliamentary elections failed to deliver a majority for any one party. President Emmanuel Macron asked the prime minister and his cabinet to remain "for the time being" for the sake of stability.
(with AFP)
