Aussie swimmer Moesha Johnson says the water quality in the Seine river during the women’s 10km marathon race wasn’t actually as bad as everyone thinks.
The efforts to clean up the Seine in time for the triathlon and marathon swim have been a rollercoaster of emotions for all involved. One minute the Paris mayor is going for a swim, the next minute, there are fears the water is too shitty for athletes to compete.
Johnson managed to snag a silver medal after her huge efforts in the infamous river, and for a majority of the race, she had a serious shot at gold. Unfortunately, she lost to the Netherlands’ Sharon van Rouwendaal by 5.5 seconds after the pair took different routes during one of the final turns of the course.
“I knew whatever option I took, Sharon behind me would have taken the other one, and we just had to fight it out and see which route was quicker or who was stronger,” Johnson said after the race. “That’s kind of where she passed me into the gold medal position.
“I’m happy with my choice. I committed to it. It’s just such a tactical race, and there’s so many ifs, buts and maybes that could have happened in that race. To come out with a medal is just unbelievable.”
Unlike the various pool swims — which Johnson also competed in — the river swim is much more tactical, with swimmers having to do six loops of a 1.67km loop course. This means that currents, water quality and visibility are important factors for swimmers to consider during their race.
In order to escape the strong current in the middle of the river, swimmers opted to stick to the edge for a competitive advantage. However, this is also the dirtiest part of the river.
But while many athletes have come out and slammed organisers over the water quality — which they spent more than a billion dollars trying to fix — Johnson seemed to think it wasn’t that bad. In fact, she said she’s swam in worse.
“I’ve tasted worse water, to be honest. It’s not about what the water looks like. I’ve swum in some really brown water and it’s been really good quality. It’s just about what the data shows us. It’s always going to be dramatic [in the media],” she said.
Johnson drank a Coca-Cola after the race, buying into a weird superstition at Paris 2024, in which athletes believe a can of coke can flush out the bacteria you accidentally consume after swimming in the Seine.
“If Coca-Cola is listening, this is your cue. Yes, I’ve had a Coca-Cola, but I’ll go home and have some antibiotics as well,” Johnson said.
She may not have won the gold medal in the swimming, but she would definitely win one for toughness.
You can watch all the action from the final few days of the Olympics on Channel 9 and 9Now.
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