Paris Olympics' River Seine venue still not clean enough, tests show

For 100 years swimming was banned in the River Seine in Paris because of the high levels of water pollution that could make people ill.

But organisers of the Paris Olympics and Paralympic Games want public swimming to be one of the legacies of the 2024 Games.

After years of work, and more than 1.4 billion euros (£1.2bn) of investment to clean it up, they had hoped the Seine would be ready to welcome swimmers and divers once more.

The River Seine is due to host three Olympic events - the triathlon, marathon swimming and paratriathlon.

However, recent water tests have shown, with less than 12 months to go before the Games, it is still too dirty for public health.

As a result, World Aquatics has cancelled a test event for the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

The Open Water Swimming World Cup was meant to take place in the Seine on 5 and 6 August but did not go ahead.

World Aquatics said because there had been more rainfall than normal recently, the water quality of the Seine was "below acceptable standards".

Historically, the problem lay with the city's drainage system that allowed industrial waste to pour into the river.

In the past 20 years the drainage system was upgraded by engineers who built a big underground reservoir to store excess water during heavy rain.

World Aquatics said ahead of the Games it understood further work would be carried out to clean up the River Seine, which flows through the heart of the French capital.