Seine water quality questioned again after Belgian Triathlete’s E.coli diagnosis

The Belgian triathlon team has to withdraw from the mixed triathlon on Monday morning. One of its four members, Claire Michel, has been ill for four days and is in hospital. She has been infected with E. coli bacteria, according to the Belgian media. She may have contracted the bacteria from swimming in the Seine on Wednesday during the women’s individual race, which Cassandre Beaugrand won. Bacteria can cause stomach and intestinal problems.

“The COIB and Belgian Triathlon hope that lessons will be learned for future triathlon competitions. We are thinking here of the guarantee of training days, competition days and the format of competitions, which must be clarified in advance and ensure that there is no uncertainty for athletes, entourage and supporters,” writes the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee in a statement.

As a reminder, two reconnaissance events in the swimming section had been cancelled (Sunday and Monday) and the men’s race postponed after measurements of the water in the Seine had deemed it unsuitable for swimming. In the end, the races went smoothly after the level of E. coli bacteria in the Seine had been halved in 24 hours.

Another athletes said: “We’ll know if I’m sick or not.”

That didn’t stop athlete Jolien Vermeylen from questioning the quality of the water after the individual triathlon. “I drank a lot of water, so we’ll know tomorrow if I’m sick or not. It doesn’t taste like Coca-Cola or Sprite, obviously. Swimming under the bridge, I felt and saw things you shouldn’t think too much about,” she told Belgian media outlet VTM.

As a reminder, according to 2006 European bathing regulations and the standards of the International Swimming and Triathlon Federations, concentrations of fecal contamination bacteria, Escherichia coli and enterococci, must not exceed 1,000 colony-forming units (cfu)/100 ml for e.coli and 400 cfu/100 ml for enterococci. Above this threshold, the water is unfit for bathing.