After days of water-quality concerns caused by heavy rains last week put the swimming portion of the Olympic triathlons in doubt, the women dove into the Seine River on Wednesday under gray skies that lingered following an early-morning drizzle, followed by the men a few hours later.
The athletes began near the Pont Alexandre III, a bridge that spans the famed Paris waterway. The steady rain tapered off just as the athletes splashed into the water. Some dunked their swim goggles in the Seine before putting them on and heading into the river with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
The decision to go ahead with the swim for the triathlon competitions was a big deal for the city, Olympics organizers and the athletes. Officials undertook an ambitious plan, including 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in infrastructure improvements, to clean up the long-polluted Seine and have been steadfast in their insistence that the swimming portion of the triathlon and the marathon swimming events next week could safely be held in the river.
This is a specific kind of mass gaslighting and sunk cost fallacy: “Think of all the money we spent on cleaning, don’t you believe it’s clean?” /s
I don’t know if we can still call the river clean. But I disagree that it’s sunk cost fallacy.
This river has been polluted for centuries and it’s no doubt that it requires considerable efforts and resources to make it safe to swim in on a regular basis.
But the effort is not in vein! And the important attention the Olympics brought on the subject of water quality to the public is very important too! More people realize they deserve clean rivers and we should do what it takes to get it !