The Paris Olympics insisting that athletes compete in the Seine is so absurd it feels like something Terry Pratchett would want to make fun of. Like can you imagine him writing a Discworld story about a mad Ankh-Moorpark city official deciding to put on some ancient extravagant game, creating havoc in the city by bringing in all these foreigners to compete, and insisting the Ankh river, which is so filthy it’s basically solid, is perfectly fine to swim in, because that’s what they did in ancient times so that’s how they’re going to do it now. I feel like it would be a Night’s Watch story about the people hired to clean the river and all the friends and horrors they discover along the way.
Good luck to all the athletes swimming in the poop water.
I thought “it can’t really be that bad” but
Multiple Olympics 2024 athletes hospitalised after swimming in polluted Seine
“Swimming in the river has been banned since 1923 due to the poor water quality and health hazards.” What the hell were they thinking???
Also apparently the mayor is insisting it’s fake news, and she made a whole show of swimming in it herself to prove it. Do you think she got E. coli and just comedically pretended she didn’t