Plans to revive an age-old race swimming race through Paris have been cancelled because the authorities say the River Seine is too dirty and too dangerous to swim in.
Two Traversée de Paris a la Nage races of 2.5km (1.5 miles) and 10km (six miles) were due to take place on September 2 for the first time in 70 years.
They had been organised by Paris Swim and 3,300 competitors had signed up for them.
But the Parisian authorities now say the race cannot go ahead because the river water is "of manifestly insufficient quality for swimming" despite "significant improvements in recent years".
The Préfecture de Police de Paris (PP) also made the decision to halt the race on Monday, according to France 24 , on commercial grounds.
The Paris police headquarters argued that the race - which takes a total of four hours - in France's busiest river, would cause unacceptable delays on the river's busy commercial and tourist traffic and potentially put the swimmers in danger.
The competition organisers had argued that the river is the cleanest it has been for decades, with dozens of different species of fish in it compared with the meagre three varieties it held in 1970.
Former President and ex-Paris mayor Jacques Chirac in 1988 promised to clean up the river by the end of his term of office in 1994 but it never happened.
Although the banks of the Seine are turned into a beach area in the summer, swimming is still banned.
Paris Swim says it is surprised by the decision and plans to appeal the decision, saying it will be analysing the water to try to persuade the authorities to change their minds.
The first race took place in 1905 and became so popular that it drew the biggest swimming names of the time, rivalling the Tour de France as the country's most important sporting event.
It carried on in World War II but, after some disputes during the time the Germans occupied Paris, it was permanently cancelled in 1945.
