Organisers have spent more than £1bn trying to clean the river in time, but the event was postponed from Tuesday morning after tests showed high levels of pollution as a result of heavy rain last Friday.
The green light was given on Wednesday morning for both the men’s and women’s races, with Team GB achieving success in both.
But the race was not a fun experience for everyone, especially Canadian Tyler Myslawchuk, who crossed the finish line in ninth place, 52 seconds behind British leader Alex Yee.
Like many, the 29-year-old looked worse for wear when he reached the finish line. After stumbling past Ye and other medalists, he was caught on camera vomiting violently moments after completing the grueling race, which included a 1.5-kilometre swim in the River Seine, a 40-kilometre bike ride and a 10-kilometre run.
The unpleasant scene was captured by television cameras, which also showed several other athletes lying on the mat, struggling to catch their breath after the race ended.
Perhaps this was just a natural reaction as triathlon is one of the most gruelling sports in the world, but Ms. Mislavchuk’s photo will not help to allay fears about the threat posed by E. coli bacteria.
In an interview with the British newspaper, Daily Mail, Mislauchuk confirmed that he vomited 10 times.
The reaction of the Kazakh athlete Ekaterina Shabalina after swimming in the Seine River at the Paris Olympics was similar before she withdrew from the race. The athlete explained the details in an interview with Sport 24: “After I was hit on the head several times, I choked on the Seine River water, and then I started vomiting for the rest of the swimming race.”
“I vomited after the first lap of the cycling stage,” she continued.
Some athletes have resorted to desperate measures to ward off potential health risks, with American triathlete Seth Ryder revealing he stopped washing his hands after using the toilet before swimming in the River Seine at the 2024 Olympics.
“I’m just trying to raise my infection threshold by exposing myself to small amounts of it in my daily life,” he said.
The strategy may have prevented the disease, but it did not improve performance, as Ryder finished 29th out of 55 riders in Wednesday’s race.
There is still the mixed triathlon relay on August 5, as well as the marathon swimming race, which will also take place in the River Seine.
Source: RT
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2024-08-01 14:59:04
