Canadian athlete violently vomits after Olympic triathlon swim in contaminated Seine

The men's Olympic triathlon, after being postponed due to dangerous contamination levels in the Seine, was held Wednesday following the women’s event. 

Immediately after finishing the triathlon race, Canadian Tyler Mislawchuk violently vomited on the mats where the broadcast cameras were stationed. Mislawchuck placed ninth in the men's Paris 2024 Olympic triathlon race.

Several other athletes sprawled out on the mat after completing the demanding competition that consisted of  a 1.5-km swim, 40-km bike ride, and 10-km run. 

Paris 2024 spokeswoman Anne Descamps said Olympic officials “followed rigorously the process set by World Triathlon.”

“The results were quite positive to launch the competition,” she said, per the Associated Press. 

Despite Paris spending US$1.5 billion on cleaning up the Seine, monitoring Tuesday morning found high levels of E. coli in the iconic river and officials deemed it too dangerous for swimming. Yet, on Wednesday, officials announced the Seine was clean enough for athletes to swim. Testing was done 21.5 hours ahead of the opening dive. 

E. coli levels spiked regularly during testing conducted July 17 to 23, to the point of double what is considered safe for human exposure under World Triathlon regulations. As much as a mouthful of E. coli-infected water can cause gastrointestinal issues. 

Contamination increases during heavy rainfalls, which Paris experienced throughout its opening ceremony Friday and into the weekend. It was raining in Paris at 8 a.m. local time when female triathletes dove into the Seine at the Pont Alexandre III bridge. The men swam three hours later, as the heat of the day began to set in. 

“It’s magic,” Chief Paris Games Organizer Tony Estanguet told French television, per the AP.

“It’s a very important legacy for Parisians to be able to swim from next year in the Seine.”

Swimming in the Seine has been banned for about a hundred years due to its known toxicity levels as sewage water seeps into the river. 

After the massive infrastructure overhaul, which included a renovated sewage system and underground water treatment basin, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his joy at the news the Seine could be safe for swimming after a century-long prohibition. 

“Here we are! Thanks to a massive investment ... we have achieved in just 4 years what was impossible for 100 years: the Seine is now swimmable,” write Macron on social media. 

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo went viral for taking a dip in the Seine earlier in July to demonstrate the progress the city had made in cleaning up the long-contaminated body of water.

"It's sweet and wonderful and the result of a lot of work,” she said, per the Daily Record. 

Hidalgo on Wednesday congratulated France's Cassandre Beaugrand for winning the Olympic gold in the triathlon event with the words, “How special to see her swimming in the Seine, thank you for making us so proud!”

Beaugrand wasn’t worried about the contamination in the Seine “because we swam last year and no one was sick after that,” per the AP. Triathletes last August did a test swim in the Seine in anticipation of the upcoming Olympics. 

“So I was confident we could swim today and it would have been a shame if we didn’t,” she said. 

Great Britain’s Alex Yee, men’s triathlon champ, was more skeptical. He said athletes were put in the position where they just have to trust organizers’ claim the conditions were safe, the AP reported. 

“I’m sure we’ll find out in due time if that’s correct,” added Yee.