Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo made a big splash today. With just nine days to go until the Summer Olympics, Hidalgo dove into the River Seine and went for a swim -- not to show off her stroke, but to show that the murky water is clean enough for outdoor swimming events.
Hidalgo, wearing a wetsuit and goggles, was joined by the president of the Paris Olympics organizing committee in showing the world that France's $1.5 billion effort to clean the polluted waterway and prevent sewage from seeping in has worked and the river is ready to host the games. Surfrider Europe, a group committed to protecting bodies of water, said the latest tests on the Seine indicate that the river is "swimmable."