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Banned for a century because of the filthy water, city swimming is set to be one of the major legacies of the Games thanks to a โฌ1.4bn (ยฃ1.2bn; $1.6bn) regeneration project universally hailed as a success.
Not only are three Olympic events - triathlon, marathon swimming and paratriathlon - scheduled to take place in the Seine in central Paris, but by 2025 three open-air swimming areas will be accessible from the quayside.
Why was it so polluted
Without looking, I'd guess 100+ years of sewers draining into the river and industrial dumping. Takes a long time to track down every source and clean everything up.
Having read it, this is basically correct. The last hurdle was that the sewer system was designed to use the river to dump overflow in the case of heavy rains. Now they're finishing up a large reservoir to use instead.
There was no political willpower to de pollute it.
The games brought that willpower with them.