Inside gaffe-filled Olympics from filthy Seine & athletes given raw meat to pool being ‘too shallow’ & security blunders
PARIS 2024 has suffered a number of embarrassing and dangerous blunders so far with the historic Olympic Games already coming under serious scrutiny.
The French capital has welcomed in millions for the celebration of sport but issues from a stinking River Seine, serving up raw food and arson attacks have all stolen the headlines away from the athletes.
France‘s gaffe-filled Games started on Friday with a controversial opening ceremony with issues continuing to plague the showcase event just days in.
Athletes and coaches have slammed organisers in the first week of the Games for a lacklustre start.
Complaints over catering, security and even the state of the swimming pools have all created a far from ideal start for French president Emmanuel Macron.
The leader promised his country and the watching world that his Olympics would be one of the biggest and best ever from the opening ceremony to the final medal handouts.
But as we enter the fifth day problems are continuing to persist with serious conversations raging on over how Paris has put on such a dismal display.
STINKING SEINE
One of the biggest talking points heading into the Games was around the level of pollution and toxicity inside the River Seine.
The iconic river was set to be the centre piece of Paris 2024 with a huge number of events taking place on the choppy waters.
Despite organisers confidence that the Seine is a suitable venue for athletes to swim in many have slammed the decision.
Parisian locals have described the river as being a stinking pit of pollution with many vowing they would never take a dip in the water.
Research has shown the river is far over the healthy limit of E. Coli with a worryingly high amount of fecal bacteria and intestinal enterococci also present.
Swimming in the Seine has even been banned since 1923.
French authorities spent a whopping £1billion on trying to make the river clean for the Olympics.
But after several days of persistent rain leading up to the Games, a dangerously high level of harmful bacteria has risen causing a threat to health.
Training for triathletes was even cancelled on Sunday and Monday with some of the events even being pushed back amid the safety concerns.
A statement from World Triathlon said: “Tests carried out in the Seine revealed water quality did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held.
“Despite the improvement in the water quality levels, the readings at some points of the swim course are still above the acceptable limits.”
In order to prove the Seine was in a fit condition to swim in, Macron said he would go for a dip in the water – something he is yet to do.
Current Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo did stick to her word and plunged in with a group of around 100 officials before swimming around 100 meters.
SHALLOW POOL
The Olympic swimming pool in Paris has been slammed for its unusually shallow depth – with athletes claiming it is making them embarrassingly slow.
The custom built tank in the La Defense Arena is only 2.15m deep – much shallower than the standard 3m depth seen at the previous six Olympic Games.
Athletes from across the globe have been training for months in typically sized pools in anticipation for the Games with record breaking runs on many of their minds.
But so far, no records have been set during the first five days of action with plenty of times being slower than anticipated.
Brit swimmer Jacob Whittle even likened racing in the Olympic pool to swimming in the sea due to the rough waves caused by the depth.
Whittle, 19, has slammed the “tough” conditions in the Paris pool and said the shallow dimensions are making it too choppy to swim in.
He told The Sun, after he just missed out on a semi-final spot in the 100m freestyle: “It’s a tough pool to swim in, tough when you’re on an outside lane.
“It’s just one of them pools, some pools feel great, some pools don’t, a few waves, feels a bit strange being a bit shallower, nothing that we can’t deal with.
“It’s just hard racing but that’s what we enjoy, that’s what we came here to do.”
Many of the results have seen athletes recording times around 0.1 seconds slower than expected.
Adam Peaty – one of Britain’s greatest ever swimmers and current multi-time world record holder – was even apart of the slowest 100m breaststroke final in over two decades on Sunday.
American coach Bob Bowman, who coached 23-times gold medallist Michael Phelps and now trains France hero Leon Marchand says it will take a “very outstanding” swim to get close to a record this summer.
SABOTAGE ATTACKS
In the last week, France has been hit by a number of major sabotage attempts – paralysing travel and phone networks.
An arson attack on three sections of a high speed train line on Friday took place hours before the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony got underway.
Hundreds of thousands of passengers had their trains delayed or cancelled as they headed to Paris over the weekend.
Authorities said France was hit by “coordinated acts of malice” against the rail network.
Operator SNCF was badly affected by the strikes that left massive queues at train stations and operators, including the Eurostar.
Days later France faced more attacks with the cables of several telecom operators in electrical cabinets being “cut” in six areas between 1am and 3am.
Secretary of State for Digital Affairs Marina Ferrari condemned the attacks and said teams had been mobilised to repair the damaged sites.
RAW MEAT
Team GB have been forced to bring their own chef to the Olympics after complaints of raw meat being served in the athlete’s village.
Organisers were accused of failing to prepare food properly with British athletes moving to nearby Clichy to fuel up before their events.
The Olympic village is also suffering from a shortage of key items including protein-rich eggs and chicken, claim the athletes.
Team GB chief executive Andy Anson has warned Olympic beaks to sort out the mess in their own cafeteria quickly.
He said: “At the beginning of every Games there’s usually two or three issues.
“The big one this time is the food in the village, which is not adequate.
“There are not enough of certain foods: eggs, chicken, certain carbohydrates. And then there is the quality of the food, with raw meat being served to athletes.
“They have got to improve it over the next couple of days dramatically.”
OPENING CEREMONY WOES
Viewers were promised a monumental opening ceremony on Friday but the £120million spectacle was battered by rain and left fans split over the epic.
It was hailed as the “greatest show on earth” by some, with a stunning laser lights display from the Eiffel Tower and Celine Dion praised for her performance.
But critics also blasted it as woke nonsense, with many — including billionaire Elon Musk — furious for the way it parodied the Last Supper.
In a series of gaffes, the International Olympic Committee had to apologise to South Korea for introducing its athletes as being from its hated northern neighbour.
And the Olympic flag was raised upside down, while TV viewers spotted a male dancer in shorts had part of his “lunch box” hanging out.
Other mishaps included a Lady Gaga backing dancer slipping and falling over on stage amid the pouring rain.
SpaceX boss Mr Musk led those unhappy at the French for parodying Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, which depicts Jesus’s final meal.
The show’s version included drag queens and a near-naked man painted blue.
Mr Musk said: “This was extremely disrespectful to Christians.”
The bizarre scene towards the end of the four-hour show raised eyebrows around the world and triggered fury among Christians.
POLITICAL CHAOS
Away from the Olympics, France is also in a crisis with their fractured political system in turmoil.
Weeks before the Games got underway riots broke out across the country following a shock election result that saw New Popular Front (NFP) – a left-wing coalition led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon – secure the most seats in parliament.
Despite the win, they failed to get enough seats for an absolute majority leaving the nation deadlocked.
Tens of thousands of riot cops were dispatched to quell unrest on the week of the election as left-wing supporters protested.
Political candidates and activists were injured in 51 bloody attacks during the election period.
Macron activist and deputy of the French National Assembly, Virginie Lanlo, even had her jaw broken in a violent clash.
Dozens of shops in Paris barricaded their doors and windows ahead of voting day.
The Olympics has provided French president Emmanuel Macron a chance to put the political outrage aside with him declaring a decision on France’s future will be made after the Games.
What's happening today at The Games?
WHAT TO WATCH TODAY...
TODAY’S BRIT MEDAL HOPES
Freestyle BMX world and European champ Kieran Reilly will be aiming to add the Olympic title to his collection (12.40pm).
Team GB’s men and women will both be in contention in the rowing quadruple sculls finals (11.25am).
BRITS TO WATCH
Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix – daughter of First Dates star Fred – and Lois Toulson go in the 10m synchro diving final (10am).
In the hockey, Team GB’s women know a win against South Africa is vital after starting with defeats to Spain and Australia (9.30am).
Commonwealth bronze medallist Jemima Yeats-Brown begins her -70kg judo campaign, two years on from losing her sister Jenny to brain cancer (9.20am).
GLOBAL STARS TODAY
The all-star USA men’s basketball team, featuring LeBron James and Steph Curry, face Olympic debutants South Sudan (8pm).
The 100m men’s freestyle final could be a classic with Tokyo champ Caeleb Dressel, new 200m gold medallist David Popovici plus Brits Duncan Scott and Matthew Richards all in contention (9.15pm).
And Jessica Fox could win her second gold of Paris 2024 if she defends her C1 canoe slalom from three years ago (4.25pm).
FANCY SOMETHING DIFFERENT?
The beach volleyball is always spectacular viewing at any Olympics but this year even more so – because it is being played at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
There are matches all throughout the day from 8am to 9pm.
Click here for all the events taking place at Paris 2024 today.
Follow all the action as it unfolds with our Paris 2024 Olympics LIVE blog.