It has been illegal to swim in the Seine River for over 100 years. The water has always been far too polluted.
However, the team behind the Paris Olympics demanded that the Seine was to be used for the triathlon events. They wanted the swimming section to be a spectacle – cue $1.5 billion spent on cleaning up the river, and to be fair, they did a decent job. However, it wasn’t quite enough. On Monday, then again on Tuesday, due to high rainfall, e-coli levels in the Seine River were above maximum levels, which meant that the men’s triathlon needed to be delayed several days. But what impact would this have on betting?
New bets happening
Let’s be honest, the delay to the Olympic men’s triathlon meant a whole new betting market opened – would the event even go ahead? Olympic officials had a couple of contingency plans in place and they promised that the event would be held, it was just a question of when. After all, if rain continued to fall, which it is likely to do in Paris on occasion, then the two contingency dates could be missed.
There was a suggestion that if the Seine remained polluted, the swimming portion of the event would be skipped, turning the event into a duathlon, which many of the athletes were opposed to. After all, they’re there for a triathlon, not a duathlon.
However, as we now know, the event did manage to go ahead on Wednesday, saving the organizers a lot of red faces and allowing the triathletes to compete in a full triathlon.
New favorites emerged
If the triathlon had been ditched and became a duathlon without the whole swimming part, this could have completely shaken up projected results for the event. Strong swimmers may have ended up falling down the rankings in favor of those who are especially strong at the cycling and/or running portions of the event. This means that there may have been a seismic shift in projected betting odds.
We started to see this happen. People who were projected to have a decent chance of winning the triathlon were having their odds lengthened, with the anticipation that there would be a duathlon instead. So, you may have seen some gamblers having a bet on the slightly longer odds, hoping to win a bit of extra cash, before the triathlon was finally confirmed.
Betting odds evened out a little bit
There were still some massive, long shots that didn’t have a hope of winning a medal. However, we saw that the odds for the front of the pack evened out somewhat, with less to call between first and third places. While Olympic betting can be exciting, it’s important to have convenient and secure ways to manage your funds. If you’re interested in exploring hassle-free payment options, check out www.newcasinos.com/. They offer a curated list of the top pay-by-phone casinos, where you can easily deposit and play without the need for a traditional bank or credit card. It’s a great way to enjoy gaming with more flexibility and security.
Some athletes may be a bit slower
One of the things many people were not talking about when it comes to the triathlon being shifted a couple of days is the fact that the River Seine was unusable for training. While all these athletes spend a huge amount of time training before they headed to the Olympics, concentrating on running, swimming and biking outdoors, they still need to get a feel for the water they’ll be swimming in. After all, using a different exercise bike or swimming in a different river means taking a little time to get used to it. They couldn’t do this.
This meant that you saw some slowness during the swimming portions of the men’s triathlon, and even the women’s triathlon. This was reflected in the betting odds, again with the stronger swimmers being more affected by the potential for slowness on the water.
Bets refunded?
In the incredibly unlikely event that the triathlon didn’t go ahead (and became a duathlon), bets may have had to have been refunded, although this may depend on the bookmaker. Generally, there wouldn’t be a refund just because the event changed to a different day, although it certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility. It’s definitely something to keep in mind when placing bets on events in the future.
Waiting for other Olympic events to kick off?
Remember – this was all speculation. It is virtually unprecedented that a triathlon will be cancelled at a major event like this, and thankfully it was able to go ahead. It isn’t in the interests of the Olympic Committee, nor is it in the interests of the Paris organizers who have spent so long touting the idea that the water is ever so clean. So, we expected the triathlon to happen in some form. A duathlon is a completely different event with different tactics, and strong swimmers would certainly not have thrived in it.
