People are threatening to poop in Paris river that Olympians will swim down

The 2024 Paris Olympics are just days away and with it, a continued threat from Parisians that they will take a number two in the river being used by athletes.

Sadly we're not telling a really bad joke, people have genuinely been threatening to do this. And despite the eye-opening threat, it's for quite a serious reason.

For the summer games and the Paralympics, which kick off on Friday (26 July) and run until 8 September, the historic River Seine that runs through Paris will be used for a number of events.

The swimming marathon alongside the swimming stage of the triathlon will be hosted in the waterway, alongside a Paralympic event.

One huge worry over the use of the river for the 2024 Games is the water quality, given that swimming in the Seine was banned a century ago due to how badly polluted it was. For half a century, raw sewage was poured into the river freely, leading to the ban in 1923.

But in order to try and make it clean enough for the games, a massive €1.4 billion (£1.18 billion) has been spent to turn it in to a river that's not going to make athletes throw up for days after their event.

Organisers say it is part of plans to make it the 'greenest ever Olympics'; the main reason for why athletes are sleeping in cardboard 'anti-sex' beds once again.

The stage is set (Owen Franken/Corbis via Getty Images)

But the huge funds used to clean the Seine has led to increasing online momentum against it under the hashtag #JeChieDansLaSeine. In English that translates to 'I Poo In The Seine'. Nice.

With the cost of living crisis still having a tight grip on the bank accounts of ordinary Parisians, it's gaining traction quickly across social accounts having first come to international attention for an organised 'sh*t in the Seine' day in June.

Doubts remain over the water quality despite French politicians saying it is good to go, with the Paris Mayor even taking a dip to 'prove' all is well.

Locals swimming after politicians said the river was now clean enough to swim in for the first time in a century (JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP via Getty Images)

Brazilian swimmer Ana Marcela Cunha, who is the reigning Olympic open-water champion, told local press that the river is 'not made for swimming'.

In June, it was reported that tests for E. Coli in the river were too high for 22 out of the 30 days of the month. Levels have improved for July but it is now a waiting game as the events near.

Bill Sullivan, Ph.D, a professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine who studies infectious diseases, told the New York Post: "If the weather stays sunny and dry, there’s a chance the fecal bacteria levels will fall into the safe range.

E. Coli tests in June were not good enough (Telmo Pinto/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

"But in the Olympics between humans and germs, the germs usually win."

He added that detection of E. Coli in the river means there is 'literal poop in the water either from human sewage or soil erosion from farms that may have infected animals'.

Here's hoping all is okay for when the world's best swimmers take to the water.