PARIS (NEWSnet/AP) — Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam Wednesday in the Seine River, fulfilling a promise to show that the long-polluted waterway was clean enough to host competitions during the 2024 Olympics.

Daily water quality tests in early June had indicated unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria, but there were improvements since.

Clad in a wetsuit and goggles, Hidalgo plunged into the river near the imposing-looking City Hall, her office, and the Notre Dame Cathedral. Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet and the top government official for the Paris region, Marc Guillaume, joined her, along with swimmers from local swimming clubs.

“The Seine is exquisite,” said Hidalgo from the water. After emerging, she continued to rave, “The water is very, very good. A little cool, but not so bad.'' She also said today was “a dream” and a “testimony that we have achieved a lot of work,” referencing the city’s “swimming plan” that was launched in 2015.

They swam down the river for about 100 meters, switching between crawl and breaststroke.

“After twenty years of doing sports in the river, I find it admirable that we are trying to clean it up,” said Estanguet, who has three Olympic gold medals in canoeing.

Swimming in the Seine has been banned for over a century. Since 2015, organizers have invested $1.5 billion to prepare the Seine for the Olympics and to ensure Parisians have a cleaner river after the Games.

The plan included constructing a giant underground water storage basin in central Paris, renovating sewer infrastructure, and upgrading wastewater treatment plants.

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