Team GB athletes to receive vaccines before 2024 Paris Olympics

Team GB athletes partaking in the marathon swimming event at the 2024 Paris Olympics will be vaccinated for typhoid and hepatitis amid concerns of the water quality in the River Seine.

They will be the first swimmers to brave the Seine since 1923, when it was banned due to health concerns. The French government have spent approximately £1.2 billion to ensure that the river will be safe to swim in - nevertheless, the quality of its water is still under question.

Certain pathogens have been recently recorded in the Seine, including E-Coli and Enterococci, according to a report published by Surfrider Foundation earlier in the month.

Team GB swimmer Hector Pardoe told the i [via PA]: “We’re going to have a typhoid and hepatitis A vaccine beforehand and be on antibiotics after the race, regardless of what the water samples show.

“I haven’t had to take precautions like this before, but the last thing [AquaticsGB] wants to do is to put any of us in jeopardy, so they are being really cautious in the run-up to Paris.”

Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet, when asked about the Triathlon, said: “When we decided to have this competition in the Seine we knew it will be a big challenge.

“We are still confident that the triathlon will be based in the Seine because we have contingency plans. We can postpone for rainy conditions. Because it’s programmed at the beginning of the Games we can wait for better conditions. So we are confident that it will be possible to use the Seine.

“We change the date and postpone from one day to three days until it’s OK. And there is a final decision where we could not swim – it’s part of the rules of the International Federation. It’s what we want to avoid, of course.”