Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of the French capital, Paris, swam in the Seine River on Wednesday to show its water is clean enough to host outdoor swimming events for the Paris Olympics later this month.

During the Paris Games triathlon and open-water swimming athletes are supposed to swim in the Seine, where swimming for more than a century has been illegal.

Donning a wet suit and goggles, Hidalgo declared the river "exquisite," if a bit cold.

Efforts to clean the Seine up

"On the eve of the Games, when the Seine will play a key role, this event represents the demonstration of the efforts made by the city and the state to improve the quality of the Seine's waters and the ecological state of the river," Hidalgo's office said in a statement on Tuesday.

At least $1.5 billion (€1.4 billion) has been spent to clean the long-polluted river.

The Seine, however, has continued to be a cause for concern, showing the presence of sewage water above authorized levels in repeated tests until earlier this month, when samples began to show the river was finally ready for the games.

Should heavy rain affect the Seine's flow during the Games, the organizers said the swimming event will be canceled in the triathlon and the marathon swimming competition will be moved to the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in the greater Paris region.

Hidalgo's controversial swim

Hidalgo was going to swim in the river last month but she postponed her plans after reports suggested the presence of fecal matter 10 times higher than the authorized limit.

Her long-awaited dip in the Seine prompted a meme fest, where people online shared an AI-generated image of her looking like the character Dobby from the Harry Potter series.

A group even called for a protest using the hashtag #jechiedanslaSeine (#IshitintheSeine) and threatened to defecate in the river on the day Hidalgo was set to swim.

Chief Paris Games organizer Tony Estanguet and Marc Guillaume, the top security officer in greater Paris, will also join Hidalgo in her swimming exercise on Wednesday.

President Emmanuel Macron had also planned to take part in the event and bathe in the Seine but later had to cancel.

mfi/rmt (AP, AFP)