Belgian Swimmer Infected on Seine River, Belgium Withdraws from Olympic 2024 Competition

The Belgian Olympic Committee has decided to withdraw their team from the mixed relay triathlon event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, after female athlete Claire Michel fell ill following a swim in the Seine River.

The decision to withdraw the Belgian team from the mixed relay triathlon event was made after athlete Claire Michel, who participated in the women's mixed relay triathlon event on Wednesday, unfortunately fell ill and had to withdraw from the competition.

According to L'Equipe, Michel was hospitalized due to an infection with the E.Coli bacteria, a type of intestinal bacteria. While most strains of E.Coli are harmless, some can cause severe abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, and vomiting.

As a result, the 35-year-old athlete had to be urgently hospitalized and was almost forced to withdraw from the competition. This incident also led to the Belgian mixed relay triathlon team withdrawing from the event, causing considerable frustration for the Belgian Olympic Committee.

"Belgian Olympic Committee and Belgian Triathlon Federation hope that everyone will draw important lessons from this incident for future competitions.

We must ensure that there are no environmental issues affecting athletes before considering training, timing, or competition format," the Belgian Olympic Committee stated in a press release.

This incident has raised serious concerns about the water quality of the Seine River, where the swimming portion of the mixed relay triathlon event took place.

Although the Paris 2024 organizing committee has not officially commented on Michel's health status, they have affirmed that the mixed relay triathlon event will proceed as scheduled at 8 a.m. on Monday.

To ensure transparency and safety, a meeting was held on Sunday night with representatives from World Triathlon, the International Olympic Committee, the Paris Games organizing committee, and local weather management agencies.

The latest test results showed that the water quality at the competition venue has improved and is within the limits set by World Triathlon.

However, the issue does not only concern the Belgian team.

Athletes from other countries have also reported health issues after participating in the competition. Swiss mixed relay triathlon athlete Adrien Briffod suffered from a stomach infection after swimming in the Seine on Wednesday.

In addition, Swiss substitute athlete Simon Westermann also had to withdraw due to a digestive tract infection, even though he had not swum in the Seine.

Norwegian mixed relay triathlon athlete Vetle Bergsvik Thorn also fell ill a day after participating in the men's event.

While Thorn believes the cause may be food poisoning, the timing coincidence with swimming in the Seine cannot be overlooked.

These incidents have sparked widespread concerns within the international sports community. Many athletes, including Ireland's Daniel Wiffen—who won silver in the men's 1,500m freestyle and gold in the 800m freestyle—have decided not to train in the Seine River before the upcoming 10km marathon swimming event.

Following the incidents, many Olympic athletes have expressed concerns about the level of pollution in the Seine River. France had committed over 1.6 billion euros to renovate this river, however, during the Olympic Games, the pollution levels remain very high, leading to many athletes speaking out about this issue.