Paris Olympics 2024: This popular drink is helping swimmers beat bacteria while competing in Seine River

In the Paris Olympics 2024, the Seine River has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The presence of E. coli as well as other pollutants in the river has been a cause of concern for the swimmers who have remained skeptical about competing in such waters.

But now, the Olympic swimmers are likely to have found an antidote to the E. coli present in the Seine River. This solution is the popular aerated drink Coca-Cola.

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Various world-class athletes have accepted that this soda drink has saved them from bacteria and kept them away from any infection which they could have contracted while competing in the open waters, reported the New York Post.

“There’s no harm in drinking a Coke after a race,” said New Zealand’s Ainsley Thorpe, while speaking to the Wall Street Journal after last week's Women’s Triathlon. “If you Google it, it says it can help," she added.

Athletes turn to Coca-Cola to save themselves from E. coli

However, according to doctors, no medical research supports the fact that Coca-Cola can cure gastroenterological issues. However, many athletes are still going ahead with this belief.

“The myth of Coca-Cola is true,” said Australian marathon swimmer Moesha Johnson. “We will often have a Coca-Cola afterwards just to try to flush out anything inside of us," she added.

The Olympians have also been consuming cocktails of probiotics before and after their races to face the polluted river in Paris.

“I took pro-biotics, I drank my Yakult, I couldn’t do more,” Johnson said.

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Meanwhile, Belgiumtriathlete Jolien Vermeylen said, “I had the idea of ​​not drinking water, but yes, it failed.”

The American Gastroenterological Association President DrMaria Abreu said that Coca-Cola is less likely to have much impact on the intestines of Olympic athletes.

“These are young, athletic people, right? They’re going to be healthy people whose stomach acid is going to be nice and robust,” said Abreu.

Some athletes are also considering soda as an energy drink, which helps restore lost sugar.

“My coach advised me to [drink Coca-Cola] to restore those glycogen levels immediately,” said American Katie Grimes, while speaking to the outlet. “Not Diet Coke, just straight-up Coke. Nothing does it better than that," she added.

Various events have been cancelled in River Seine because the water bodyfailed in water quality tests.

(With inputs from agencies)