Olympic Swimmer Katie Grimes Doesn’t Want to Swim in the Seine Again

Olympic silver medalist Katie Grimes isn’t interested in a repeat performance of the women’s 10km marathon swimming final.

Grimes came 15th in the August 8 race in Paris’ River Seine, amid concerns about pollution and water safety. City officials made extensive efforts to ensure the Seine was safe to swim in before the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, the men’s triathlon scheduled for July 30 was postponed after the water was found to have an unacceptable level of E.coli bacteria.

“I was a little nervous before I got in, just hoping that I didn’t get sick,” Grimes, 18, told TMZ in an interview published on Thursday, August 22. “But I honestly didn’t think about it once while I was racing and I didn’t get sick at all afterwards, so I’m really grateful for that.”

But that doesn’t mean Grimes is too pumped to get into the Seine again. “I hope I don’t ever have to go in the river again, but it was a lot of fun,” she said.

“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 and something I’ll never forget,” Grimes added.

Grimes won silver in the 400m women’s individual medley on July 29, which thankfully took place within the confines of the Paris Aquatics Centre. “To be able to feel the weight of that metal was special and I’ll never forget that,” she added to TMZ.

The water conditions in the Seine were something of a running gag during the Paris Games.

Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen joked about having to swim in the Seine via TikTok. “Guys if I don’t survive this, tell my fans I love them 🫶🏼,” Christiansen, 27, captioned an August 7 video of him practicing for a race in the Seine.

“Our competition venue is looking rather dashing,” he captioned footage of the river’s murky water in another TikTok post.

Meanwhile, Canadian triathlete Tyler Mislawchuk vomited “10 times” after swimming in the Seine, but insisted he wasn’t sick due to poor water quality.

“At my last Olympics, there was the injury and with all the stuff that happened there was a lot of what ifs. I had no what ifs on the day, I went for it, it was absolutely everything,” Mislawchuk, 29, explained to Triathlon Magazine Canada on July 31 after placing ninth in the men’s triathlon. “I vomited 10 times after the race … it got hot in the last laps.”