VIDEO. Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, took another dip in the Seine on the eve of the launch of the Paralympic Games

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine again on Tuesday, August 27, on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games and a few days before the first para-triathlon events, organized on Sunday.

A video posted on her Instagram account this Tuesday, August 27, shows her swimming, smiling, under a sunny sky in the center of the capital, accompanied by dozens of people in the water.

“A must-see”

“Starting next year, swimming in the Seine will become a must-see in the Parisian summer!”, she wrote in a message accompanying her video, reiterating her promise to make the river swimmable for all by the summer of 2025.

The Marie arm where she swam is one of three bathing sites on the Seine that are due to open to the general public in the summer of 2025, along with the Grenelle arm and the Bercy.

Cleaning up the Seine was one of the pillars of Paris' bid and one of the aspects of the "Olympic legacy" touted by the organizers.

A first swim on July 17

Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine for the first time on July 17, nine days before the start of the Olympic Games, keeping her promise to the world's press, more than a hundred years after swimming in the river was banned.

In total, the State and local authorities have invested 1.4 billion euros since 2016 to make swimming possible in the Seine and the Marne, its main tributary.

On July 30, however, the men's triathlon event had to be postponed by one day for “health reasons” because the water in the Seine is still too polluted, particularly due to heavy rains.

“Quality that meets standards”

Like the Olympic athletes before them, Paralympic athletes will be taking to the Seine for the para-triathlon swimming event on September 1 and 2. The race will take place on a 750-meter loop starting from the Pont Alexandre III and passing under the Pont des Invalides.

A week after the end of the Olympic Games, the organizers noted "a quality that complies with swimmable standards at almost all points", in a joint press release from the Île-de-France prefecture, the Paris city hall and the Games Organizing Committee (Cojo).