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Anne Hidalgo in the Seine
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(France info)
The mayor of Paris had promised to swim in the Parisian river to attest to the fact that it is now possible to bathe there. Postponed several times, the swim took place Wednesday morning, not far from the city hall.
After Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra on Saturday, it is Anne Hidalgo’s turn to take the plunge. Accompanied by the boss of Paris 2024, Tony Estanguet, and the Prefect of Ile-de-France, Marc Guillaume, The mayor of Paris dove and swam in the Seine on Wednesday, July 17, at the Pont Marie. The promise announced for many months has finally been kept, nine days before the start of the Olympic Games.
The historic plunge has been postponed several times due in particular to the poor weather conditions in the capital for many weeks and the holding of early legislative elections. This Wednesday, July 17, Anne Hidalgo and Tony Estanguet took the plunge. After a few minutes in the Seine, the mayor of Paris spoke about this achievement.
“Without the Games, we wouldn’t have done it (…). Making sure to recover the river for its inhabitants, for swimming in it… Imagine, in a year, a swimming site here, a pool, for all those who want to come and swim. And we will have three other swimming sites. We need to adapt our cities to climate change and find the river again. The river bank was a first conquest with its pedestrian paths and then being able to dive into the water“, enthused Anne Hidalgo.
On Wednesday, it was under sunny weather, in water at 20°C and a decreasing flow that Anne Hidalgo was able to keep her promise and thus maintain that the Seine is indeed swimmable. The organizers had made the decontamination of the river one of the pillars of the Paris 2024 candidacy.