Postcards from the Seine. The first is the dive from the Pont Alexandre III of the triathlon races: finally, one might say after all the controversy. The night brings the “miracle” of the purification of the waters and then not one, but two within a few hours of each other. So the French organizers get it over with, you never know, it might rain again, the bacteria might rise again, the water analyses might shake certainties again. Punctually this morning at 8, 55 girls dived in first and, a couple of hours later, 55 boys. It must be said right away that the view is breathtaking. The blue pontoon that connects the left bank to the right bank is a splendor. The French insisted so much (too much) to have the triathletes swim in the river and, at least from a scenographic point of view, you can’t blame them. And today they are celebrating. The other postcard that arrives from Paris is that of the satisfied face of Emmanuel Macron: “With a massive investment by the State, with the City of Paris and the Val de Marne, we have succeeded in 4 years in what had been impossible for 100 years: the Seine is swimmable…” he comments. Double postcard because the other shows the radiant face of Anne Hidalgo: “We won the bet – gloats the mayor of Paris who had already dived into the river about ten days ago – the Seine is no longer polluted. Then there are the unknowns of the weather, the rain and the storms. But we are confident. There was no plan B, because there was no need for a plan B. Plan A has always been the only possible one”. Which said like that makes one even angrier: that was the point. This was what was interesting, not triathlon… Third postcard comes from the Elysian fields: fantastic to see the triathletes running and pedaling in the heart of the city between two wings of a practically infinite crowd that seems to be the final stage of the Tour. A spectacle that the triathlon can offer, which is finally making people talk about it for the feats of its athletes and not for the bulletins on the percentages of escherichia coli in the river water. Fourth postcard comes straight from the race field because, even if these days the Olympic race seemed the least of their worries, it should be remembered that today the medals were awarded for both men and women. Among the girls, the gold medal goes to the Frenchwoman Cassandra Beaugrandwho triumphs in a patriotic triumph, with a great sprint in the last fraction. Behind her, silver for the Swiss Julie Derronwhich precedes the British Beth Potter. Among the men, a heart-stopping final with the British Alex Yee capable of overtaking the New Zealander Hayden Wilde who now seems to be flying towards victory but in the last hundred meters he is caught and overtaken. The Frenchman closes the podium Leo Berger which, small consolation, also brings a bit of blue to the podium since he is trained by the Italian coach Fabio Rastelli. And it is the only joy because for the Azzurri today there is little glory. And this is the fifth Parisian postcard, a little more faded. It went badly for our national team. The only one to save himself is Gianluca Pozzatti who finished twelfth with a solid race as per his possibilities. For the other three Italians it was instead a bitter Olympics. Alessio Crociani, after the first two swimming and cycling fractions with the leading group, she collapses in the running fraction arriving at the finish line far behind almost five minutes from the first. Among the women sixteenth Alice Betto, twenty-second Bianca Seregni and thirty-ninth Serena Steinhauser. Now we hope to redeem ourselves in a few days in the relay. The last postcard is the worrying one from the Canadian Tyler Mislawchuk who on live TV after finishing in ninth place, reaches the finish line and vomits. The rest is put together after swimming in the river. In fact, he is the one doing the addition: “The Seine wasn’t clean but I have no regrets, I would do it again, even if I vomited 10 times. I gave it everything I had…”. Unfortunately, Nono is the only one to have shown some worrying symptoms, a concern also in the Belgian national team’s retreat where Jolien Vermeylen also suffered some live discomfort. And on Monday, we’ll be back in the water with the mixed relays…