Marathon swimmer Chelsea Gubecka has become the first Australian selected for the Olympic Games in Paris, but mystery remains over whether the city’s famous river will be fit for use.
The 25-year-old Gubecka, who contested the 2016 Rio Olympics but not the 2021 Tokyo Games, was announced as an athlete by Australian Olympic team chef de mission Anna Meares by the Brisbane River on Thursday.
Gubecka is set to compete in the women’s 10-kilometre swim at Paris 2024, taking place between July 26 and August 11.
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The Queenslander won silver and bronze medals at the world championships in Fukuoka in July, is a a World Cup gold medallist and is a six-time national champion.
The plan is for Paris 2024 to mark a full-circle moment after the Seine River was used for swimming events at the 1900 Paris Olympics, eight years before pools became available.
But swimming in the Seine River has been banned since 1923 due to poor water quality.
The fourth meet of this year’s World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup was scheduled to be held on the Seine River in August, but was cancelled due to water pollution.
World Aquatics said the water was “still below acceptable standards for safeguarding swimmers’ health”.
August’s World Triathlon Olympic Games test event was staged on Paris’ chief waterway, but only the men’s and women’s events; the swim leg of the mixed relay was cancelled, making that event a duathlon.
August’s World Triathlon Para Cup was also turned into a duathlon, meaning the event only consisted of cycling and running.
Organisers said that was due to “a significant discrepancy on the data between the results of the latest water-quality tests provided by the laboratory and the high-frequency sample analysers”.
Gubecka said she wasn’t particularly worried about the Seine River’s water quality.
“Look, of course it raised an issue earlier this year. We did go over and unfortunately could not swim,” Gubecka said at Thursday’s announcement.
“However, then a few weeks later they ended up getting the water quality back to normal and then they contested the triathlon test event, so no; I don’t have too much concern.
“I know the mayor and the town are really trying their hardest and expressed a lot of disappointment … but [they] really are considering their options and [are] going to try to make sure we have the best experience possible next year.”
Gubecka will become just the second Australian woman to contest marathon swimming at two Olympic Games, joining Melissa Gorman (2008, 2012).
She said she was immensely proud of becoming the first Australian Olympian picked.
“It doesn’t feel real at all … To be the first athlete selected is such an honour,” Gubecka said.
“To go to one Olympics is special but to be a dual Olympian is unbelievable.
“I was only 17 when I made my first Games so I probably didn’t soak in the experience as much as I should have, but this is really special.
“I have such an amazing support system: my partner, our two dogs, my team at Yeronga Park, my coach Kate Sparkes.
“To get the call that I was officially selected as the first athlete for Paris just gave me goosebumps.”
Marathon swimming and the triathlon swim legs will be staged on the Seine River at Paris 2024.
Olympic marathon swimming consists of men’s and women’s 10-kilometre races, while Olympic triathlon features men’s and women’s events involving a 1500-metre swim, 40-kilometre bicycle ride and 10-kilometre run.
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