Anna Hidalgo takes a dip in the Seine to show she is ready for the Paris Olympic trials.

The promise was kept. Dressed in a wetsuit and goggles, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo dove into the Seine on Wednesday to demonstrate that the river was clean enough to host some Olympic events later this month.

Hidalgo swam in front of the cameras and in the company of Tony Estangue, president of the Olympic organizing committee in the French capital. Both followed the Minister of Sports and Games, Amélie Oudea-Caster, who had already swum in the river last Saturday.

Despite the big investment, the murky waters of the Seine have become a cause for concern in the days leading up to the opening of the Games after repeatedly failing water quality tests, AFP reported. Wetter-than-usual weather in recent months has forced pre-Games bathing to be postponed until at least the middle of this month, with Mayor Hidalgo among others due to take part.

Last Friday, the Paris city council reported that the Seine had been safe for swimming for ten of the past 12 days, and there were currently “no concerns” about the commitment to hold several tests for the Olympic Games, which begin on July 26 next year. “We have no concerns about being able to hold all the tests,” Pierre Rabadan, the Paris city council’s sports adviser, told the RFI network.

Rabadan recalled that there was a lot of rain in May and June, which is an unfavorable factor for ensuring sufficient water quality for bathing, because “the Seine is not a swimming pool.” But he reassured, assuring that the authorities preparing the 2024 Olympic competitions had already counted on the fact that if there was a lot of rainfall in recent months, then the adjustment of the water pollution level would be delayed.

Thus, with the increase in sunny days, the Seine was suitable for bathing for a total of ten days, continuing the first positive signs first noticed at the end of June, when the first significant improvements began to be noticed.

The waters of the Seine are one of the main concerns of Paris 2024, which has made a major commitment to the river as part of its strategy to create various symbolic places in the city to host the Games’ events.

The swimming triathlon trials will be held here: on July 30 for men, on July 31 for women and on August 5 in the mixed relay. There will also be open water marathons on August 8 for women and August 9 for men.

Since 2016, authorities have invested 1.4 billion euros in an ambitious plan to allow people to swim in the Seine, where swimming has been banned for almost a century for health reasons.

These works, which include the construction of giant reservoirs, are aimed primarily at preventing wastewater from entering the river and polluting it without passing through treatment facilities during periods of heavy rainfall.

According to EFE.