The current of the Seine River wasn’t the only “challenge” American swimmer Katie Grimes encountered at the Olympics.
When recapping her Paris Olympics experience in a recent interview with TMZ, Grimes — who won silver in the women’s 400-meter medley in the pool and also competed outdoors — spoke about swimming in the Seine, which had been under much scrutiny during the Games due to safety concerns over the water quality.
“The river was definitely a challenge, I’ve never had to swim with a current like that before, but it was such a historic race, something I’ll never forget, and, yeah, I hope I don’t have to ever go in the river again,” said Grimes, who participated in the women’s 10km and placed 15th.
The 18-year-old athlete added she was a bit “nervous” amid the questionable conditions.
“I was a little nervous before I got in, just hoping that I didn’t get sick, but I honestly didn’t think about it once while I was racing and I didn’t get sick at all afterwards, so, really grateful for that,” Grimes said.
Leading up to the Paris Olympics, French officials spent $1.5 billion on a project to clean up the heavily polluted river.
As the Games got underway, the men’s triathlon was postponed due to the water quality and some athletes fell ill.
Canadian triathlete Tyler Mislawchuk threw up at the finish line of the men’s triathlon and later stated, “I vomited 10 times after the race … it got hot in the last laps.”
Switzerland’s Adrien Briffod also succumbed to a stomach infection after the triathlon.
Some Olympians resorted to Coca-Cola in hopes of evading bacteria.
The Paris Games marked Grimes’ second Olympics after she competed in Tokyo three years ago.