Seine swimming: Parisian tradition resurrected for Olympics

Hidalgo is the latest VIP to cleave through the river's murky waters, after Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera on Saturday. Despite a major clean-up, many Parisians still recoil at the idea of swimming in a river that regularly tests for high levels of bacteria caused by faecal matter. But up until 1923, when it was banned due to pollution and the danger from passing river barges, it was a popular pastime. Here is a brief history of Seine swimming: 17th-century skinny dipping In the 17th century...