Artist's impression of the Pont-Marie swimming project, at the foot of the Sully bridge, facing Île Saint-Louis in Paris. MAIRIE DE PARIS
It's hard to imagine that in less than two months, here, at the foot of the Simone-de-Beauvoir footbridge in Paris' 12th arrondissement, opposite the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (French National Library), one will be able to swim lengths of breaststroke or crawl in the Seine. "Patience, we are beautifying your neighborhood," reads a municipal sign on a construction fence. For now, a green crane sits on a barge and giant steel tubes (a dolphin structure in maritime vocabulary) are planted in the river, about 10 meters from the quay. Yet, it is indeed here, just below the Parc de Bercy, that one of the three swimming sites promised to Parisians as a "legacy" of the 2024 Olympic Games will open this summer. Practical details were presented on Wednesday, May 14, by Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo following a steering committee on the water quality of the Seine and the Marne, where two swimming areas will also be inaugurated this summer.
Free to access, the sites will be open to the public every day during the Paris Plages, or Paris Beaches, season, from July 5 to August 31. The Bercy site is the most imposing. It can accommodate up to 700 people in one period: 400 in the solarium and 300 in the swimming area, composed of two pools measuring 67 and 35 meters in length and 11 and 12 meters in width. These are half the width of an Olympic pool, to leave enough navigation space for boats and barges. Pontoons will delineate the swimming area like pools moored to the quay. A safety slide attached to the dolphin will prevent swimmers from being hit by vessels. The Bercy site will be the only one where swimming is open continuously (from 11 am to 9 pm) every day of the week.
