baignade-anne-hidalgo

[IN PICTURES] Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the Seine on Wednesday

undefined undefined 17 juillet 2024 undefined 10h52

The Editor

De gauche à droite : Tony Estanguet, Anne Hidalgo, Marc Guillaume et Pierre Rabadan © Capture d'écran X

We were waiting for it even more than the return of summer in Paris, Anne Hidalgo finally swam in the Seine this Wednesday, July 17 around 10 am. Let's look back at the event of this week just a few days before the start of the Olympics.

She said she would do it, and she did: Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris and a staunch supporter of her project, finally took a dip in the Seine River on Wednesday morning, July 17th, just a few steps away from the Paris City Hall. A horde of journalists were there to film the plunge of the elected official, accompanied by Tony Estanguet, president of the organizing committee for the Olympics (Cojo), and Marc Guillaume, the prefect of the Île-de-France region. Surprisingly, Emmanuel Macron, who had promised to also swim on the occasion of the Olympic Games, was not there.The Sports and Olympics Minister, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, created quite a stir on Saturday, July 13th when she became the first political figure to take a dip in the Seine. Internet users couldn't help but chuckle at the minister's scream as she plunged into the water. And who could blame them? After a couple of postponements due to heavy rains and the legislative elections, the mayor of Paris finally took the plunge. She proudly shared her successful swim experience, noting that the water was "very good, a bit chilly...but not too bad," as reported by journalists. The mayor also expressed her gratitude to the prefect of the region and Tony Estanguet for their support. "Without the Games, we wouldn't have done it," she happily declared.Just include the following script tag in your code to easily load Twitter widgets on your website:

Today, only a few lucky City employees and journalists got to take a splash in the water. But by 2025, all Parisians and visitors will have the chance to swim in the Seine. This promise was first made by Jacques Chirac in 1988 and now, 37 years later, it is finally being fulfilled by Anne Hidalgo. She said, "Imagine a swimming area here, a pool, where everyone who can and wants to swim can do so. The Games served as the driving force and catalyst for this. But we are doing this because we need to adapt our cities to climate change," said the Mayor of Paris after her swim.


The Seine is now safe for swimming

In April 2024, the NGO Surfrider, known for its work in water quality and ocean and river protection, raised concerns about the poor state of the Seine.

#paris2024 https://t.co/sn8nPSlZCN

— Surfrider France (@surfriderfrance) July 16, 2024

Yay! Great news! The NGO has just released a new study on Tuesday, July 16th, revealing that the river is now safe for swimming. The levels of Escherichia coli bacteria and enterococci have finally dropped below the allowed limits, which is fantastic!