Wearing a broad smile, Head of State Emmanuel Macron promised that he would soon swim in the Seine, during the inauguration of the Paris 2024 Olympic village, this Thursday, February 29.
Will the President of the Republic keep his promise? We know that Ile-de-France residents will have the opportunity to swim in the Seine in the summer of 2025. So, this Thursday, February 29, when the question was asked by journalists on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Paris 2024 Olympic village in Saint Denis, Emmanuel Macron did not beat around the bush: “and how! Yes I will go” he replied. He also spoke of "an important legacy" left to the locals with the organization of this global event, in particular thanks to the facilities.
On the other hand, the Head of State has not given a precise date on which the whole world will be able to see him swimming in the Seine and showing off his most beautiful swimsuit. “I'm not going to give you the date, you might end up being there,” he retorted, with a smile on his face in front of the many microphones held out to him in Seine-Saint-Denis.
Emmanuel Macron is not the first president to have promised a swim in the Seine. In 1990, Jacques Chirac, mayor of Paris, did the same. He had promised to "bathe in the Seine in front of witnesses", three years later, in 1993. He had not kept his word. More recently, it was the current mayor of the capital Anne Hidalgo who launched: “we will swim in the Seine” last January.
She had indicated that she wanted to test this new swimming offer in July, just before the Olympic Games and a year before the opening of three swimming areas in the river, in Bercy, Grenelle and between the island of Saint-Louis and the Swamp. Response in the coming months to see if the two elected officials keep their commitments.
As soon as the organization of the Olympic Games was awarded to the city of Paris, colossal investments took place in the hope of making the Seine and the Marne, its main tributary, swimmable. Indeed, since 2016, the State and local authorities in Ile-de-France have invested no less than 1.4 billion euros. "For the Seine and the Marne, there has been an extraordinary investment that has been made" welcomed the President of the Republic. These rivers will also have "changed their face and use" he said. concludes.
