Swimming in the Seine: nearly 100,000 bathers, announces Anne Hidalgo, who extends the opening

Nearly 100,000 people enjoyed swimming in the Seine during the summer, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced Wednesday, August 27, as she will extend two of the three swimming sites into September, a legacy of the Olympic Games. Swimming in the Seine, banned since 1923, opened on July 5 and was originally scheduled to end on August 31.

"Nearly 100,000 bathers have already had the joy of swimming in the Seine this summer, and given this exceptional success, I have decided to extend the opening of the Grenelle site until September 7, and that of Bercy until September 14," announced the mayor on Bluesky . The Bras Marie site will be closed.

"This is excellent news for all those who have made it their summer destination, and a final opportunity for those who have not yet had the chance to go swimming!" added the mayor. The three swimming areas had suffered from the summer rains in July but had welcomed more than 35,000 people since their opening at the beginning of August, the City of Paris reported at the time.

Following the promise of the Socialist Party mayor of Paris to clean up the river so that Parisians can swim there, three spaces have opened in the wake of the Olympic competitions held in the Seine in the summer of 2024. The Austerlitz basin, built to store wastewater and rainwater, has been in operation since last summer.

During the Olympic Games, record rainfall often made the water unsuitable for athletes to swim in, particularly due to occasionally high levels of fecal bacteria.