PARIS — Paris is staging its first high-diving competitors within the Seine, with athletes launching themselves from a 20-meter platform in entrance of the Eiffel Tower — a spectacular new check of town’s effort to reclaim its river for sport.
The occasion on the Bir-Hakeim Bridge has additionally uncovered the fragility of that ambition: Organizers suspended coaching Thursday when traces of hydrocarbons had been detected upstream. By Friday, the French Swimming Federation stated the affected space had been handled, permitting athletes to return to the water and the occasion to proceed as deliberate.
Excessive diving concludes Saturday with the ultimate two rounds and medal occasions, whereas the broader European Aquatics Championships run via Aug. 16.
“There are issues which might be inside our management, and there are uncertainties which might be inevitably linked to any out of doors exercise,” stated Maxime Sauvage, Paris deputy mayor in command of sports activities, sports activities amenities and equal entry to sport.
Among the many issues inside the metropolis’s management, he stated, are the large investments made earlier than the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to make the river protected for swimming, from work to forestall sewage from flowing immediately into the Seine to enhancements in stormwater administration.
“There may be at all times a small threat, however that can also be a part of what makes out of doors occasions particular,” Sauvage stated. “After they work, it’s magical.”
Lots of of individuals gathered alongside the riverbanks Friday to look at the divers. Some stopped throughout their lunch break, whereas others stumbled throughout the competitors by probability.
Amongst them was Rebecca Kapogiannis, a 45-year-old customer from London, Ontario, who was visiting Paris together with her daughter to have a good time her commencement. Her daughter had even packed a washing swimsuit in case she acquired the prospect to swim within the Seine.
“We simply headed right down to the (Eiffel) Tower right now and thought we’d stroll alongside the Seine and stumbled upon this and thought it was a very cool exercise to look at,” she instructed The Related Press.
“I used to be not anticipating a contest to happen within the Seine, however I believe it’s such a cool use of this water that runs proper via town.”
For Cynthia Matz, who was visiting Paris together with her husband, Sean, the setting itself was a part of the draw. She stated they most likely wouldn’t have sought out the competitors had it been held inside an aquatics middle.
“Anyone can go. I don’t need to know something about diving. I can simply say, ‘That is actually cool to see,’” Matz stated.
“Having it out in public, folks will simply cease and go, ‘Huh, what’s occurring?’ and cease and spend a while and revel in it.”
That capability to stumble throughout elite sport in the course of town displays a broader transformation Paris officers have been pushing for years: turning the Seine from a river related largely with commerce, transport and tourism into a spot the place folks also can swim, play and compete.
The thirty eighth European Aquatics Championships, from July 31 to Aug. 16, mark the centenary of the inaugural championships, held in Budapest in 1926. For Paris, they’re a return of one other sort: The French capital final hosted the occasion in 1931.
Greater than 1,000 athletes are competing throughout 5 disciplines: swimming, diving, inventive swimming, open-water swimming and excessive diving.
The Seine is internet hosting each open-water swimming and excessive diving, putting the river again on the middle of a significant worldwide sporting occasion two years after the Paris Olympics.
Swimming within the Seine was formally banned in 1923 amid air pollution and the risks of river site visitors. Public swimming returned solely in 2025, after Paris and its companions mobilized 1.4 billion euros to make the river swimmable, an effort accelerated by the Olympics.
For a lot of French folks, former President Jacques Chirac’s 1988 pledge, when he was mayor of Paris, to make the Seine clear sufficient for swimming once more appeared like a distant dream.
However for the reason that 2024 Olympics, photographs of athletes competing — and now residents swimming — within the river have turn into virtually acquainted.
Round 70,000 folks used town’s designated Seine swimming areas in July, in accordance with Paris Metropolis Corridor, in contrast with almost 100,000 throughout the complete summer time final yr, suggesting rising public curiosity in reclaiming the river for recreation.
Bringing sport into each day Parisian life has been an goal throughout successive metropolis administrations. Underneath Emmanuel Grégoire, elected mayor in March, Sauvage stated the mission is to “make the complete metropolis more and more favorable to bodily exercise and sport.”
“For many years, the Seine was restricted to financial functions, tourism with sightseeing boats, and logistics with ships loading and unloading items in Paris,” Sauvage stated. “It was a river with excessive ranges of air pollution that additionally had a big impression on its biodiversity.”
Now, he says, the purpose is so as to add one other identification to the river with out erasing the others.
“Paris is not only a postcard picture, it is usually an impressive sporting venue,” Sauvage stated. “It’s a metropolis that individuals come to go to, however it is usually a metropolis to be skilled by bike, via operating, via sport, via play and thru swimming.”
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Related Press author Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed
