Kauli Vaast braves the famously polluted waters of the Seine to celebrate winning Olympic gold. Photo: Surfing France // Instagram
Kauli Vaast became a hometown hero when he won gold in the second-ever men’s surfing event at his home break of Teahupo’o, Tahiti. Since then, he’s been taking part in some much deserved celebrating, including wake surfing behind a boat in the Seine.
The main event of the Paris 2024 surfing competition was held nearly 10,000 miles away from the host city, but in recent days the athletes have been flocking to Paris to participate in the closing ceremonies Sunday. That’s how Vaast found himself pumping for speed on a pint-sized wave, with France’s capital in the background. “Surfing in the Seine is great, it’s mega, but doing it with the Eiffel Tower behind you is even more special,” Vaast told AFP.
Though the waves on tap in Paris are significantly smaller than the monsters at Teahupo’o, the safety of swimming in the Seine has still been a point of contention for this year’s Olympics. The river has historically been so polluted that swimming has been banned in it for a century. However, ahead of the Olympics, Paris launched massive infrastructure improvements intended to make the water safe for holding open water swimming events.
Despite skepticism that the water would be safe, (and even some threats from Parisians who vowed to poop in the seine in protest), the Olympic swimming events went on largely as planned. The Associated Press analyzed water quality data from the duration of the Olympics, and while E. coli and enterococci bacteria levels were much higher than deemed acceptable on some days during the three-week span of the Olympics, the events themselves were held in acceptable conditions. As a result, Olympic officials deemed the endeavor a success.
That being said, a host of athletes have fallen ill after participating in Olympic swimming events held in the Seine. Belgian, Portuguese, Norwegian and Swiss swimmers all became sick after competing in the river during Olympic triathlon events. More recently, three German swimmers also fell ill after participating in open water races in the Seine. In each case, though, it was not immediately clear if the river was responsible.
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