The 2024 Olympics will be held in Paris, showcasing the city to a global audience. To present Paris at its best, Mayor Anne Hidalgo has initiated a project to clean a historical landmark: the Seine River. However, her motivations in doing so were influenced by public rhetoric. The Seine River was too hazardous to swim for decades, deterring Parisians and foreigners. Despite efforts in the past to sanitize the swimming conditions, it wasn't until the Paris Olympics that action was officially taken. After clearance from scientists, Mayor Hildago symbolically demonstrated the river's safety by swimming in it herself, persuading the public that Siene is now swimmable. Journalist Tom Watling states, "The major of Paris has taken a swim in the river to bid a prove that the water are clean enough to host open-swimming events during the Olympic Games (Watling, 2024)." Her utilization of public rhetoric was a demonstrative approach to debunk adverse claims about the river's cleanliness.
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