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I vomited NINE times and have diarrhoea after swimming in the Seine, claims Olympics 2024 star in blast at water safety

GERMAN athlete Leonie Beck has claimed she vomited NINE times and suffered from diarrhoea after swimming in the River Seine.

The Paris 2024 organisers have come under fire this summer with concerns over the safety of the water in the Parisian river.

a woman in an orange shirt gives a thumbs up
Germany's Leonie Beck competes during the marathon swimming women's 10km competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Germany’s Leonie Beck competes during the marathon swimming women’s 10km competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Training sessions were cancelled and events had been postponed throughout the games with dangerously high pollution levels preventing athletes from entering the water.

While before the Games, unhappy Parisians threatened to defecate in the river to protest against the failed spending to clean it up.

However, the river was deemed safe to swim in after a number of tests were carried out by event organisers.

One of those races was Thursday’s Women’s Marathon Swimming event, which sees competitors swim 10km and spend over two hours inside the dirtied waters.

And Leonie Beck, who finished ninth in the incredible event, has hit out at the conditions inside the Seine on her social media.

Taking to Instagram Beck posted a selfie with a caption reading: “Vomited nine times and diarrhoea”.

While she also seemed to take a sarcastic swipe at the Olympic organisers by writing: “water quality in the Seine is approved.”

Belgian 1.5-kilometre star Jolien Vermeylen had previously said she, “felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much” when she swam in the Seine.

She added in an interview with VTM: “The Seine has been dirty for a hundred years, so they can’t say that the safety of the athletes is a priority. That’s bulls***.”

It was feared that Olympic chiefs would cancel the swimming element of the triathlon and make it a duathlon.

Back in July, triathlon training sessions in the Seine were canned which led many athletes to believe the swimming wouldn’t go ahead.

Swimming in the Seine has been barred since 1923, despite former mayor Jacques Chirac’s efforts to clean the river up.

Paris 2024’s general director Etienne Thobois has reportedly failed to apologise to any athletes that have fallen ill.

“We have to wait,” he told Mail Sport.

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“We don’t do fiction scenarios. We are very respectful of the athletes. 

“They are the heart of the Games. We have done everything we could in relation with the international federations and public authorities to achieve the goal of swimming in the Seine which will be a fantastic legacy.”

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