The triathlons were a resounding success: races across water, cycleway and cobbles that will have left Emmanuel Macron punching the air after river pollution controversy
The women’s and men’s triathlon competitions were held in a loop, returning each time to the startlingly beautiful Pont Alexandre III – also known as the bridge in that Sopranos episode – and taking in Champs Élysée, Grand Palais and the western vista of the Seine.
Third, this was a sporting triumph for the Games. Three hours after Beaugrand had won the women’s event, Brockley’s Alex Yee did something equally astonishing, mustering up a sprint finish at the end of a 10km run over ankle-ripping cobbles, and collapsing at the tape to take gold for Team GB. Close up, witnessing the strain on faces and bodies, this was surely one of the greatest feats of sporting endurance you’re ever likely to see, and in its own way the event of the Games.
It is one of the undiscussed benefits of Paris 2024 that closing roads, ramping up cycle lanes and opening urban walkways has created a really lovely version of this city. The triathlon turned that into a sporting spectacle, a vision of city-friendly carbon-light travel, as enacted by cartoon champions in trainers and two-piece swimming suits..
The Seine is, after all, why Paris exists in the first place. The Romans made it a trade route. The Vikings pillaged it. France’s own belle époque expanded along its banks. The same river water the athletes were glugging down here also contains ashes of Jean d’Arc and the debris of the second world war.And like every major old-world city this place is built on a labyrinth of inherited tunnels. With Paris the key task in this Olympic cycle has been to build a giant rainwater tank.
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