Last Thursday, 8 August, the 10km open water swimming event took place. The competition was won by the swimmer Sharon Van Rouwendaal from the Netherlands, followed by the swimmers from Australia and the Italian athlete.

In ninth place was German swimmer Leonie Beck. She has made a statement on social media that has been quite surprising. "I threw up 9 times yesterday + diarrhea," she posted, before sarcastically adding, "The quality of the water in the Seine is approved". 

The post is accompanied by a photo of the German athlete, giving a thumbs-up, but looking sick. The German Olympic Sports Confederation announced that two other German athletes had also fallen ill after swimming in the river Seine. It did not say who were affected, but said they were in better condition.

"Two German open water swimmers were treated as outpatients (on Friday) for nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. As of this morning they are feeling much better," the statement said. "Another swimmer with similar symptoms is currently being treated by the German team doctors."

The other German swimmer in the women's open water event was Leonie Maertens, who placed 22nd out of 24 participants. Germany also had two swimmers in the men's event: silver medallist Oliver Klemet and eighth-placed Florian Wellbrock. Of these, it is not yet known who is receiving treatment.

A total of 53 swimmers, 29 men and 24 women, competed in the open water events. Most said the cleanliness of the water was not a problem, and Dutch women's gold medallist Sharon van Rouwendaal said she even took a few gulps from the river.

Despite a massive and expensive clean-up project, some readings showed unacceptable levels of disease-causing bacteria. That prompted changes to the triathlon programme and the cancellation of one of the two open water practice sessions scheduled before the men's and women's 10km races.