Paris mayor takes pre-Olympic dip to prove Seine clean
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00:00Good morning. It lasted just a couple of minutes shortly before 10 a.m. local time. The mayor of
00:05Paris sporting a wetsuit and goggles came, did a little freestyle, swam about 100 meters and was
00:12done with it, essentially sending a message to France and the world that the Seine is clean
00:18enough to swim in. Since that happened, we've had about a dozen dozens of people who've just
00:23been jumping into the Seine and swimming, enjoying the sunshine, enjoying essentially
00:29what could be a thing that we can see in the future now that the Seine is clean enough to
00:37swim in. So Anne Hidalgo sending the message. She, of course, was not going to let the sports
00:42minister who sort of slipped into the Seine just a couple of days ago steal her thunder. This is
00:48her moment. The Olympic Games are her moment. The plan to clean the Seine was part of Paris'
00:54pitch when it applied to host the Olympic Games back in 2017. This, of course, cost 1.4 billion
01:03euros over the years. It was no slam dunk success story. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Seine was
01:08not clean enough to swim in. We had bacterial levels in the water that were 10 times the
01:14acceptable amount. Only in the past few days has that level been acceptable. So this is clearly a
01:21success story for Anne Hidalgo today. It is, but it is a success story that was very long in coming.
01:28I mean, she promised to do this in January. Why did it take so long?
01:35Well, it took so long because Jeannie, as I mentioned, those
01:38bacterial levels just failed to go down. Here we've had an unseasonable summer. We've had a
01:46heavy rainfall, and that rainfall sort of pushes the pollution levels higher in the Seine, which
01:53is why cleaning it and the filtration system, getting that fecal matter out of the water,
01:59has been more cumbersome for authorities here. This is, they look to host long-distance swimming
02:04events behind me, in the water behind me. Clearly, things have gone according to plan
02:11over the past few days. Anne Hidalgo has been the latest high-profile politician to take
02:16that dip in the Seine over the weekend. As I mentioned, you had the French sports minister
02:20who swam in the Seine. Obviously, a much less publicized event than the one we're seeing today.
02:26Today, we have journalists from all across the world, Parisians gathered on the banks of the
02:31Seine. I hope you can see, right as far as the eye can see, just witness what is going on here.
02:37We had the French president a couple of months ago, who said he, too,
02:40will swim before the games start. But as you and I both know, there's so much political chaos in
02:45France. I'm not sure if Emmanuel Macron has the time to test out the waters here.
02:50In the meantime, Delano, maybe you can do it for him. I hope you brought your swimsuit.
02:53I'm looking forward to getting those images when you get back to the studio.
02:56I didn't bring my swimsuit.
02:58Delano, go have fun. All right, Delano D'Souza there reporting for us on Anne Hidalgo,
03:02who jumped in the Seine, as promised, just a few days ahead of the opening ceremony
03:06of the Olympic Games. Thanks for watching.