Sick triathlete after Paris Olympics race pushes Switzerland to change team for mixed relay

PARIS (AP) — Three days after the men’s triathlon at the Paris Olympics, the Swiss team said Saturday one of its athletes has a stomach infection and will not compete in the mixed relay event.

It was “impossible to say” if Adrien Briffod’s gastrointestinal infection is linked to water quality in the River Seine, the Switzerland Olympic team said in a statement.

No other cases of Olympic triathletes with stomach problems had been found among other countries that took part in the individual races, the Swiss team’s doctor Hanspeter Betschart said.

The health risks of sending triathletes and marathon swimmers into the long-polluted Seine after a $1.5 billion project to clean the water was among the biggest issues for Olympics organizers — and could yet be the best games legacy for the city of Paris.

French president Emmanuel Macron had promised to swim in the Seine to show it is safe and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, went in the water one week before the Olympics opened.

Lower-quality water after heavy rains pushed back the scheduled Tuesday morning race in men’s triathlon for more than 24 hours. It started immediately after the women’s race Wednesday.

Briffod spent 21½ minutes in the Seine completing the 1.5-kilometer (0.93-mile) swimming section to open the race that he finished in 49th place. He had his 30th birthday Friday in Paris.

Julie Derron, the women’s silver medalist, is in the Swiss team for the mixed relay Monday, with Cathia Schär, Max Studer and, replacing Briffod, Simon Westermann.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games