People need to stop making the assumption that the UK is a responsible first world country. It isn’t.

— ‘Jacob Birtwhistle, 28, an Australian triathlete, posted the Environment Agency’s results [and] wrote: “Have been feeling pretty rubbish since the race, but I guess that’s what happens when you swim in shit. The swim should have been cancelled.”

… Another wrote: “That now explains why I spent Monday night with my head in the toilet after racing Sunday morning!”’

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/05/investigation-after-57-world-triathlon-championship-swimmers-fall-sick-and-get-diarrhoea-in-sunderland-race