SWIMMABLE CITIES
THE URBAN SWIMMING MOVEMENT
The first Swimmable Cities summit was held in Rotterdam in the Netherlands last month. It started with a ‘big splash’ on International Bathing Day. Ella Foote jumped in and discovered there is hope for our waterways
Ella joins the ‘opening splash’
It wasn’t just world leaders gathering in the Netherlands in June; over 200 representatives from 30 countries united and plunged into the water at the world’s first Swimmable Cities Summit in Rotterdam. British Olympian Toby Robinson and American Ultramarathon swimmer Katie Pumphrey were among the delegates who started the summit with an ‘opening splash’ into Rotterdam’s Rijnhaven, one of the oldest ports on the south bank of the Nieuwe Maas River. The summit was held less than a year into the beginning of an international alliance which includes 153 organisations across 83 cities and towns, and 30 countries.
“Nothing is free in London, but here anyone can turn up and swim, for free, in the Rijnhaven and as a result the area is buzzing with energy... If swimmers are thriving, then their city is.”
The Swimmable Cities alliance was formed after the project to clean up the River Seine climaxed at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The summit builds on work done in Paris and across other European cities to create a global network of swimmable urban waterways. “Last summer, I took part in one of the most significant and talked about swims in history – the marathon swimming event at the Paris Olympic Games,” says Team GB athlete Toby Robinson. “That moment demonstrated to me that The Olympic Games can be a force for change, inspiring tangible action to make cleaner, healthier waterways for entire urban populations, and this week I was at the summit to put my weight behind this important global movement.”