July 31st 2024.
After being postponed, the much-awaited Olympics triathlon finally took place on Wednesday. As the athletes dived into the River Seine, the excitement and anticipation were palpable. However, for one athlete, the experience was not as pleasant as she had hoped.
Jolien Vermeylen, a participant from Belgium, shared her thoughts on the event. Despite the early morning tests showing an acceptable level of water quality, she couldn't help but feel disgusted while swimming in the river. She mentioned that the pollution had worsened after heavy rainfall over the weekend, leaving a foul taste in her mouth. She even admitted to being aware of the risk of getting sick.
"I drank a lot of water, so we'll know tomorrow if I'm sick or not," she said in an interview with TV channel VTM. "It doesn't taste like Coca-Cola or Sprite, of course. While swimming under the bridge, I felt and saw things that we shouldn't think about too much. The Seine has been dirty for a hundred years, so they can't say that the safety of the athletes is a priority. That's bulls***!"
Vermeylen took precautions to avoid getting sick, but she couldn't escape the fact that she had ingested a significant amount of the contaminated water during the swim leg. She also expressed her disappointment in the organizers for not prioritizing the safety of the athletes.
"If the race hadn't taken place, it would have been a disgrace for the organization, for Paris, for France," she said. "It was now or never, and they couldn't cancel the race completely either. Now they just have to hope that there won't be too many sick athletes."
Despite the concerns and risks, the triathlon events continued, and two Team GB stars shined on the podium. Alex Yee, who had won a silver medal in Tokyo 2020, bagged the gold in the men's event. In the women's race, Beth Potter fought her way to a bronze medal. Both athletes performed exceptionally well, especially considering the challenges posed by the River Seine.
"I'm so grateful to everyone who's been in my corner for the past three years," Yee said in an interview with BBC Sport after passing New Zealand's Hayden Wilde late in the race. "That was for them. At 5km on the run leg, I was going through a really bad patch, and with 2.5km to go, I thought, 'I'm going to give myself one last chance at this and not give up,' and here we are."
Potter, on the other hand, was ecstatic about her performance, even though she had her eyes set on the gold. "I'm so happy. I was going for the gold, but Cassandre and Julie were just too good for me today, and I'm super happy to come away with the bronze," she said. "I've come a long way in eight years. I did it for me, but I also did it for everyone who has helped me in eight years and believed in me from day one. It is for them back home as well."
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