As Olympics brace for Seine dip, rogue swimmers say water's fine

A group of swimmers enjoying the River Seine in Ile-Saint-Denis, north of Paris. Photos: Geoffroy Van der Hasselt/AFP

While the 2024 Olympics will stage events in the Seine river from the ornate Alexandre III bridge, a proud declaration of the waterway's environmental renewal, many swimmers in the capital are already defying decades-long bans to take the plunge.

Fears over pollution and safety led to a ban on swimming in the Seine and the Paris canals in 1923, though application of the rules has been relaxed in recent years.