Multiple Olympians have been forced to withdraw from their events after being hit with a crippling sickness, an infection that many are linking to the river Seine.
Belgian athlete Claire Michel and two Swiss athletes withdrew from a mixed-team relay race leading on Monday.
Michel’s own team has been quiet on her sickness, but according to Belgian media, the Olympian was stricken with a four-day infection of E. coli and had to receive treatment at a hospital in France.
The athlete has since returned to the Olympic Village, but Belgium’s relay team was still forced to forfeit the race after Michel’s withdrawal.
“[T]he Belgian Hammers will not start in the Mixed Relay competition at the Paris Games tomorrow,” the Belgian Olympic Committee said in a Sunday statement.
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“This decision, as well as the communication about it, was taken in consultation with the athletes and the entourage.”
The national team ended its statement with a tactful bit of advice for the Games’ organizers: Quit making athletes compete in an unsanitary river.
“The [Belgian Olympic Committee] and Belgian Triathlon hope that lessons will be learned for future triathlon competitions,” the committee’s statement said.
“We are thinking of training days that can be guaranteed, competition days and formats that are clear in advance and circumstances that do not cause uncertainty among athletes, entourage and fans.”
Is it safe to swim in the Seine river?
Another Belgian Olympian famously spoke out on the Parisian waterway’s corrupted contents last week.
“While swimming under the bridge, I felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much,” Belgian triathlete Jolien Vermeylen said last Wednesday after ingesting a bit of the river’s water during an event.
Vermaylen said, the water “doesn’t taste like Coca-Cola or Sprite, of course.”
Judging by what has happened to Switzerland’s national team, the Belgians are right to doubt the river’s safety.
On Saturday, the Swiss Olympic Team announced the withdrawal of triathlete Adrien Briffod.
Briffod’s departure was blamed on an unspecified stomach illness, which the Swiss Olympic team did not directly link to evens taking place in the filthy Seine despite the athlete’s individual events in the river.
Simon Westermann, a reserve Olympian for the Swiss, was tapped to replace Bifford. Unfortunately, it appears the curse of the Seine wasn’t done ravaging the Swiss team.
One day after the shakeup, the Swiss team announced Westermann’s withdrawal due to yet another gastrointestinal illness. However, the team’s announcement said Westermann did not test in the Seine.
“Two dropouts within a few days are very unusual and, first and foremost, unfortunate for the athletes,” the national team’s release read. “They were really looking forward to this Olympic race. But in top-class sport, it is important to accept the situation quickly, react and find the best solution.”
