Olympic swimmers may have found a possible cure to beating the E. coli-riddled Seine River that has been one of the huge storylines at the 2024 Paris Olympics — a can of Coca-Cola.
Several world-class athletes swear that the sugary soda has helped them stave off bacteria and any infection they could get from competing in the open waters.
“There’s no harm in drinking a Coke after a race,” New Zealand’s Ainsley Thorpe told the Wall Street Journal after the Women’s Triathlon last week. “If you Google it, it says it can help.”
Doctors say there is no medical backing to Coke being a gastroenterological cure-all, but many athletes are still taking advice from the professionals around them in Paris.
“The myth of Coca-Cola is true,” Australian marathon swimmer Moesha Johnson said. “We will often have a Coca-Cola afterwards just to try to flush out anything inside of us.”
The Olympians have also been taking cocktails of probiotics before and after their races to combat the polluted river in Paris.
“I took pro-biotics, I drank my Yakult, I couldn’t do more,” Beligium triathlete Jolien Vermeylen said after her race on July 31. “I had the idea of not drinking water, but yes, it failed.”
Ironically enough, Vermeylen said the Seine “doesn’t taste like Coca-Cola or Sprite, of course.”
Dr. Maria Abreu, the president of the American Gastroenterological Association, said Coke wouldn’t have much effect on an Olympic athlete’s intestines.
“These are young, athletic people, right? They’re going to be healthy people whose stomach acid is going to be nice and robust,” Abreu said.
Other athletes treat the soda like an energy drink to help restore some of the sugar lost while competing, as a 12-ounce can contains 39 grams of the sweet stuff, or nearly 10 teaspoons.
“My coach advised me to [drink Coca-Cola] to restore those glycogen levels immediately,” American Katie Grimes told the outlet. “Not Diet Coke, just straight up Coke. Nothing does it better than that.”
One video posted by USA Swimming captured Grimes holding a bottle of Coke after she qualified for the Paris Olympics in July 2023.
The 18-year-old Las Vegas native has already won the silver medal in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley and will dive into the Seine Thursday morning for the Women’s 10km Marathon swim.
Former Team USA open water swimmer Emily Klueh shared a similar opinion to the fizzy drink, saying she craved the soda during races as she got tired of Gatorade.
She was also fond of some harder liquids.
“I’ve heard that taking a shot of Jägermeister just kills everything in your stomach,” Klueh told the Wall Street Journal
Thursday’s race was given the green light by Olympic officials after water quality tests met the thresholds.
Several familiarization events in the Seine have been canceled because of failed water quality tests.
The Marathon Swimming training for August 6 was canceled this week because the levels of Enterococci — bacteria found in fecal matter — were above the accepted thresholds for World Aquatics.
The men’s individual triathlon was postponed a few days because the E. coli levels were too high when rain during the opening ceremonies forced sewage to leak into the river.
Before the Olympics, officials undertook an ambitious plan, including $1.5 billion in infrastructure improvements, to clean up the long-polluted Seine.
Several athletes developed illnesses following the individual triathlons.
Competitors from Belgium and Switzerland became ill, forcing the Swiss to change their roster for the Mixed relay held on Monday and Belgium to withdraw from the race.
“The BOIC and Belgian Triathlon must unfortunately announce that the ‘Belgian Hammers’ will not be starting the mixed relay at the Paris Olympic Games tomorrow,” a statement from the country read. “The decision, like this communication, was taken in consultation with the athletes and their entourage.
“Claire Michel, a member of the relay, is unfortunately ill and must withdraw from the competition.”
It was not clear if water from the Seine was the cause of the illnesses.
