Germany wins illness-affected Olympic mixed team relay triathlon


PARIS — Germany won gold in the mixed triathlon relay on Monday at the Paris Olympics, with the event disrupted by illnesses that saw at least three teams report sick team members who swam in the River Seine last week.

In a thrilling climax to the team race through central Paris, Germany's Laura Lindemann won a sprint finish, narrowly edging out Taylor Knibb from the United States in second and Beth Potter from Britain in third.

The Belgian team did not race at all after their athlete Claire Michel fell sick, reportedly with E.Coli, having swum in the Seine during the women's individual triathlon last Wednesday.

The Swiss team also had to bring in a replacement after their racer Adrien Briffod suffered a gastrointestinal infection, while Norwegian competitor Vetle Bergsvik Thorn told AFP he too had been stricken with a stomach bug after the men's race last week.

"I was sick for about 12 hours, overnight from Friday to Saturday," he said. "I don't know if it was food poisoning or from the Seine. Obviously it wasn't the best preparation for today."

The relay is a four-person sprint triathlon, with Monday's race seeing two men and two women completing a 300-metre swim in the Seine, a seven-kilometre bike ride through central Paris and a 1.8 km run.

The Seine has been the focus of attention during the Paris triathlon events with the waterway consistently failing water quality tests despite a 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) upgrade to improve the Paris sewerage and water treatment systems.

The men's race last week had to be delayed by 24 hours and no training has been possible since the start of the Games on July 28, with many athletes again surprised by the strength of the current on Monday.

"It takes some courage to swim and the ability of a good swimmer to navigate it," victorious German Tim Hellwig told reporters.

Organisers have stressed that the illnesses cannot be attributed to the Seine and Hellwig said he felt confident in the water tests overseen by international governing body World Triathlon.

"No-one was afraid to jump in. We were all happy to have a race," he added, saying that he woke up fine after last week's men's event.

"If like 99 per cent of the athletes don't have any problems, I think it's fine," he said.

Safety 

On the eve of Monday's relay, the Belgian National Olympic Committee (COIB) revealed that Michel had fallen sick in a statement that also criticised the organisation of the triathlon at the Paris Games.

"The COIB and Belgian Triathlon hope that the lessons will be learned for future triathlon competitions at the Olympics," the committee said.

Other racers have also expressed frustration that decisions on whether the river could be used for the training and competitions were taken in the middle of the night, while organisers had threatened to scrap the swimming leg completely if the river remained too dirty.

"I don't want to be too negative. However I do think if a situation like this happens again at the Olympics, they should have a backup venue," US silver medallist Morgan Pearson told reporters.

"I don't think any of us are like 'I'm not going to race because of the chance of E. coli'. It's the Olympics. But that shows the liberty they took," he added.

Heavy rainstorms overwhelm Paris's sewerage system, leading to discharges of untreated waste water that send levels of bacteria such as E.Coli spiking.

Paris has been drenched by two major downpours since the Olympics started, on the night of the opening ceremony and again last Thursday evening.

The Paris 2024 organising committee said in a statement that testing on the day of the men's and women's triathlon last week had shown that the quality of the water was "very good" based on World Triathlon's criteria.

"The decision on whether to proceed with an event is taken by the international federation, World Triathlon, in coordination with Paris 2024, and based on the test results and a range of [notably health] criteria," it said.

"Paris 2024 wishes to remind everyone that the health and well-being of athletes is our top priority," it added.