Paris 2024 Olympics: a triathlete infected after swimming in the Seine ? Oudéa-Castera denounces “false information”

“False information” for Amélie Oudéa-Castera. Midi Libre – Michael Esdourrubailh

Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera denounced the "false information" surrounding the withdrawal of Belgian triathlete Claire Michel.

A pure and simple denial. Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera spoke on RMC Sport on Monday, August 5, after Belgian triathlete Claire Michel withdrew from the mixed relay, having fallen ill a few days after participating in the women's triathlon.

“There have been rumors about this Belgian athlete but in fact she has never been hospitalized”, she declared. “This is false information. She was ill but without a link necessarily being established with her swimming. It will be important for the Belgian NOC to be able to clarify all this. Especially since that day, the quality of the water was particularly good”, she continued. “This Belgian athlete was ill, she went to the polyclinic. There were no other cases, the athletes are in good health."

Contaminated by the e.coli bacteria

Belgium had to withdraw from the mixed triathlon relay this Monday. The reason: a possible hospitalization of Claire Michel. The 35-year-old triathlete had been ill since the end of the race, Wednesday July 31. She was contaminated by the e.coli bacteria, present in the Seine. So it was perhaps in the Parisian river that she caught it.

Swimming in the Seine was inevitably talked about before the start of the triathlon and open water events. But tests were carried out before the races, validating the "swimmability" at the time of the event.