Despite the cancellation of two days of training in the River Seine and the illness of a Belgian triathlete, the Olympic triathlon mixed relay will proceed as planned on Monday, according to organizers.
The two days of training in the River Seine were canceled, and a Belgian triathlete became unwell, but the Olympic triathlon mixed relay will proceed as scheduled on Monday, according to the organizers. “The latest test results confirm that the water quality of the Seine at the triathlon site has improved over the last hours, and the prospective tests indicate the water quality will be within the acceptable limits according to World Triathlon,” the organizers of the Paris Games stated in a statement on Sunday.
The triathlon teams requested that a decision be made sooner rather than later to give competitors more time to prepare. Originally, a decision was scheduled to be made overnight on Sunday or Monday based on bacteriological data from 24 hours earlier.
Due to pollution issues, the men’s triathlon was rescheduled for Wednesday earlier this week instead of Tuesday. The competitors were not informed of the change until approximately 4:00 am on the day of the race.
The Belgian National Olympic Committee (COIB) said that triathlete Claire Michel, a Belgian, felt “sick” following her participation in the women’s race on Wednesday.
Her nation will not participate in the mixed relay due to her illness.”We hope that the lessons learned will be applied to future Olympic triathlon competitions,” the committee stated in a statement on behalf of the COIB and Belgian Triathlon.
