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Louise Thomas
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The Olympian known for his obsession with the Olympic village chocolate muffins has given a review of the River Seine.
Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen has become well-known on TikTok since the start of Games not for his swimming skills but for his “11 out of 10” review for the pastries constantly available in the village dining hall, admitting that he also keeps at least four of the muffins in a drawer in his room.
Despite not winning any medals so far, the Olympian is still qualified to compete in the men’s 800m, 1500m, and freestyle events. His latest TikTok video sees him in the Seine, where he seems to give the body of water a review.
“Guys if I don’t survive this, tell my fans I love them,” he captioned his post. Throughout the lead-up to the Games, many Parsians have questioned whether the river is clean enough to swim in.
For decades, the Seine has been full of pollution and swimming has been mostly banned since 1923, according to Forbes.
The cleanliness of the river has been a controversial topic in Paris, particularly since 2015, when Olympic organizers invested around $1.3bn in attempts to filter sewage from the water. The plan included constructing a giant underground water storage basin in central Paris, renovating sewer infrastructure, and upgrading wastewater treatment plants. The storage basin is capable of holding 46,000 cubic meters of wastewater before it flows through a tunnel to a treatment plant. When the water meets the required health criteria, it is released into the Seine.
To prove that the river would be clean enough to swim in by the time the Olympics started, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, pledged to swim in the river herself.
However, despite her original plan to swim in the river in June, the date was pushed back because levels of bacteria indicating the presence of fecal matter was well above accepted limits.
The Seine was supposed to be used for the swimming leg of the Olympics triathlon on July 30 and 31 and August 5, but more than one athlete training session had been canceled because levels of Enterococci – an indicator of fecal pollution – were too high in the river.
It is assumed the river was safe to swim in for the open-water swimming events on August 8 and 9, although there are reports claiming those who did swim in the river may have gotten sick.
As for Christiansen, his video showed him lip-syncing to the trending sound “it’s hell in there, it’s horror.” “I’m not ashamed to admit it. It’s hell in there. It’s horror. You have to be a certain type of person to survive,” the trend, which uses a phrase spoken by Gemma Collins, is heard in the clip.
The swimmer’s video went on to receive more than three million views, with many people taking to the comments to joke that he needs to “stay strong” for the muffins.
“A stressful day in muffin land. All the choccy muffins are shaking in fear of losing their lord and devourer, the good Sir Mr Muffin Man, sir,” one comment read.
“We’ll tell the muffins you loved them, but stay strong man and you’ll tell them,” another person wrote in the comments.
