Paris considers dropping filthy Seine for main Olympic swimming event

Getting the River Seine ready for the Paris Olympics swimming events has cost over €1bn. Photo: Reuters

Lorna Petty
© Telegraph.co.uk

Organisers of the Paris Olympics are considering ditching the river Seine for the main swimming event if it is still filthy in a few weeks.

Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris Olympics committee, said the marathon swim would be moved to the lake in Vaires-sur-Marne outside the capital if efforts to clean it had not been enough by the time the games began.