PARIS (AP) — Belgium's Olympic committee announced Sunday that it would withdraw its team from the mixed relay triathlon at the Paris Olympics after one of its competitors who swam in the Seine River fell ill.
Claire Michel, who competed in the women's triathlon Wednesday, “is unfortunately ill and will have to withdraw from the competition,” the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee said in a statement.
Paris 2024 organizers had no immediate statement on Michel's illness, but said in a statement Sunday night that the mixed relay triathlon would proceed Monday at 8 a.m. The swim portion of the competition is slated for the Seine.
The Belgian committee's statement did not elaborate on Michel's illness but it comes after concerns over the river's water quality. Organizers had said that water quality tests done the day of the individual triathlon races showed “very good” bacteria levels.
On Sunday night, representatives from World Triathlon and the International Olympic Committee along with Paris Games organizers and regional and weather authorities reviewed water tests. The results indicated the water quality at the triathlon site had improved over recent hours and would be within the limits mandated by World Triathlon.
Daily water quality tests measure levels of the fecal bacteria, including E. coli, in the Seine’s waters. World Triathlon’s water safety guidelines and a 2006 European Union directive assign qualitative values to a range of E. coli levels.
Under World Triathlon’s guidelines, E. coli levels up to 1,000 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters can be considered “good” and can allow competitions to go forward.
World Triathlon’s medical committee said it considers water quality analysis, sanitary inspection and the weather forecast when determining whether to go forward with a race. The decisions have generally been made at early morning meetings on the day of the event. But in announcing Sunday night that the race would happen Monday, organizers said they were responding to requests from athletes to give them more time to prepare.
Leading up to the individual triathlon events, water quality concerns prompted organizers to cancel the swimming portion of two test runs meant to allow athletes to familiarize themselves with the course and also to delay the men's race by a day. Test swims in the Seine scheduled for Saturday and Sunday before the triathlon mixed relay were also canceled because of bacteria levels in the water.
The Belgian committee said it “hopes that lessons will be learned for future triathlon competitions at the Olympic Games. We are thinking here of the guarantee of training days, competition days and the competition format, which must be clarified in advance and ensure that there is no uncertainty for the athletes, entourage and supporters.”
Swiss officials said Saturday that triathlete Adrien Briffod, who also competed in the Seine on Wednesday, fell ill with a stomach infection. But they said it was “impossible to say” whether it was linked to the swim and that the other delegations told them none of their triathletes had reported stomach problems.
Swiss officials said in an update Sunday that Simon Westermann, who had been tapped to replace Briffod, also had to withdraw because of a gastrointestinal infection. Westermann had not participated in any swims in the Seine, the statement said. The Swiss team still planned to compete in the mixed relay Monday.
Norwegian triathlete Vetle Bergsvik Thorn got sick a day after competing in the men’s triathlon. Thorn told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that he woke up the next day with an upset stomach and was vomiting but thought that the likely cause was food poisoning. He said he felt better later that day and was planning on competing again in the mixed relay scheduled for Monday.
Arild Tveiten, the sports director of the Norwegian Triathlon Federation, said the cause of Thorn’s illness was unclear.
“We’re thinking what everyone is thinking: that it’s probably the river. But we don’t know. It could be the river, it could be the chicken,” Tveiten told NRK. “The doctor is leaning toward the possibility of food poisoning. That’s what the symptoms suggest.”
Marathon swimming events are set to be held in the Seine on Thursday and Friday.
Five of the eight swimmers in the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle Sunday night were listed to be entered in the 10-kilometer marathon swim.
Bronze medalist Daniel Wiffen of Ireland, who won an earlier gold in the 800 free, said he wouldn’t train ahead of time in the Seine: “I don’t want to try to deal with any illness.”
He said he would instead train in pools around Paris, even if it means “going in blind.”
Associated Press journalists Karl Ritter and Janie McCauley contributed reporting.
For more coverage of the Paris Olympics, visit https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games.
FILE - Australia's Natalie Van Coevorden (15), Belgium's Claire Michel (5) and Ekaterina Shabalina, of Kazakhstan (32) compete in the swim leg of the women's individual triathlon competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Paris, France. Belgium's Olympic committee announced Sunday Aug.4, 2024 that it would withdraw its team from the mixed relay triathlon at the Paris Olympics after one of its competitors who swam in the Seine River fell ill. Claire Michel, who competed in the women's triathlon Wednesday, "is unfortunately ill and will have to withdraw from the competition," the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee said in a statement. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
FILE - Claire Michel, of Belgium, is assisted by Lotte Miller of Norway after the finish of the women's individual triathlon competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Japan, July 27, 2021. Belgium's Olympic committee announced Sunday Aug.4, 2024 that it would withdraw its team from the mixed relay triathlon at the Paris Olympics after one of its competitors who swam in the Seine River fell ill. Claire Michel, who competed in the women's triathlon Wednesday, "is unfortunately ill and will have to withdraw from the competition," the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee said in a statement. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
Athletes dive into the water for the start of the men's individual triathlon competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Australia's Natalie Van Coevorden (15), Belgium's Claire Michel (5) and Ekaterina Shabalina, of Kazakhstan (32) compete in the swim leg of the women's individual triathlon competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is romping toward records Thursday as a delayed jubilation sweeps markets worldwide following the Federal Reserve’s big cut to interest rates.
The S&P 500 was up by 1.9% in late trading and above its all-time closing high set in July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 580 points, or 1.4%, and on track to top its record set on Monday. The Nasdaq composite was 2.8% higher with an hour left in trading.
The rally was widespread, and the company behind Olive Garden and Ruth's Chris, Darden Restaurants, helped lead the way with a jump of 7.8%. It said sales trends have been improving since a sharp step down in July, and it announced a delivery partnership with Uber.
Nvidia, meanwhile, barreled 4.6% higher and was once again the strongest force lifting the S&P 500. Lower interest rates weaken criticism by a bit that its shares and those of other influential Big Tech companies look too expensive following the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.
Wall Street's gains followed rallies for markets across Europe and Asia after the Federal Reserve delivered the first cut to interest rates in more than four years late on Wednesday.
It was a momentous move, closing the door on a run where the Fed kept its main interest rate at a two-decade high in hopes of slowing the U.S. economy enough to stamp out high inflation. Now that inflation has come down from its peak two summers ago, Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed can focus more on keeping the job market solid and the economy out of a recession.
Wall Street’s initial reaction to Wednesday’s cut was a yawn, after markets had already run up for months on expectations for coming reductions to rates. Stocks ended up edging lower after swinging a few times.
“Yet we come in today and have a reversal of the reversal,” said Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at BTIG. He said he did not anticipate such a big jump for stocks on Thursday.
Some analysts said the market could be relieved that the Fed’s Powell was able to thread the needle in his press conference and suggest the deeper-than-usual cut was just a “recalibration” of policy and not an urgent move it had to take to prevent a recession.
That bolstered hopes that the Federal Reserve can successfully walk its tightrope and get inflation down to its 2% target without a recession. So too did a couple reports on the economy released Thursday. One showed fewer workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, another signal that layoffs across the country remain low.
The pressure is nevertheless still on the Fed because the job market and hiring have begun to slow under the weight of higher interest rates. Some critics say the central bank waited too long to cut rates and may have damaged the economy.
Powell, though, said Fed officials are not in “a rush to get this done” and would make decisions on policy at each successive meeting depending on what the incoming data says.
Some investment banks raised their forecasts for how much the Federal Reserve will ultimately cut interest rates, anticipating even deeper reductions than Fed officials. Forecasts released Wednesday show Fed officials expect to cut interest rates by potentially another half of a percentage point in 2024 and another full point in 2025. The federal funds rate is currently sitting in a range of 4.75% to 5%.
Lower interest rates help financial markets in two big ways. They ease the brakes off the economy by making it easier for U.S. households and businesses to borrow money, which can accelerate spending and investment. They also give a boost to prices of all kinds of investments, from gold to bonds to cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin rose above $63,500 Thursday, up from about $27,000 a year ago.
An adage suggests investors should not “fight the Fed” and instead ride the rising tide when the central bank is cutting interest rates. Wall Street was certainly doing that Thursday. But this economic cycle has continued to break conventional wisdoms after the COVID-19 pandemic created an instant recession that gave way to the worst inflation in generations.
Wall Street is worried that inflation could remain tougher to fully subdue than in the past. And while lower rates can help goose the economy, they can also give inflation more fuel.
The upcoming U.S. presidential election could also keep uncertainty reigning in the market. A fear is that both the Democrats and Republicans could push for policies that add to the U.S. government’s debt, which could keep upward pressure on interest rates regardless of the Fed’s moves.
History may also offer few clues about how things may progress given how unusual the conditions are. This looks to have higher expectations for rate cuts than past easing cycles, according to strategists at Bank of America.
The economic conditions of this cycle one may resemble 1995 a bit, but unfortunately “no great analogs exist,” the strategists led by Alex Cohen wrote in a BofA Global Research report.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 3.73% from 3.71% late Wednesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, fell to 3.60% from 3.63%.
In stock markets aboard, indexes jumped even more across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They rose 2.3% in France, 2.1% in Japan and 2% in Hong Kong.
The FTSE 100 climbed 0.9% in London after the Bank of England kept interest rates there on hold. The next big move for a central bank arrives Friday, when the Bank of Japan will announce its latest decision on interest rates.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Trader Michale Conlon, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's news conference appears on a television screen behind him, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The news conference of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell appears on television screens on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader talks on the phone near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Specialist Genaro Saporito, foreground, works with traders at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The news conference of Federal' Reserve Chair Jerome Powell appears on a screen as trader Neil Catania works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Leon Montana works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
