Paris 2024
The 33rd Olympiad is just days away. I crunch the numbers, discuss what it means for Paris and the Olympic movement and briefly look forward to Friday’s unprecedented opening ceremony.
The 33rd Olympic games are now just days away. 10,714 athletes from 206 countries will compete in 329 events across 32 sports.
Paris will become only the second host city – after London – to hold its 3rd Olympics (previously hosting in 1900 and 1924).
But for the French capital, hosting this Olympics has been decades in the making, bidding for the 1992, 2008 and 2012 games before losing out to Barcelona, Beijing and London.
Paris attempted a final time for these games and were helped when three rival candidates withdrew leaving just Los Angeles to beat.
However, in an unprecedented move, the International Olympic committee (IOC) chose to elect Paris as the host for 2024 with Los Angeles hosting the next games in 2028.
According to the IOC, Paris 2024 has cost $4.38bn, with private companies providing 100 percent of the funding. For the Paralympics, only 4 percent of public funding will be used.
It is a far cry from the days when the onus was on the host city to provide such funding.
The IOC has been criticised for previous games – particularly in Montreal and Athens - when the cities suffered financial hardships due to the amount of public money spent on the games without leaving a significant legacy behind.
However, that is not a fate that will beset Paris. These Olympics will be the most sustainable in history.
The Stade de France will be used as the ‘Olympic stadium’ for the athletics and rugby sevens before returning to host concerts, football and rugby for the French national teams, long after the games have finished.
The i newspaper also reports that 95 per cent of venues in Paris already exist or will be constructed temporarily in front of the city’s most famous landmarks.
In fact, only the Aquatics centre, the La Bourget climbing venue, and the Porte de la Chapelle arena have been purposely built for Paris 2024, all of which have been earmarked for use within their communities well beyond the games.
The Olympic village – located in Saint Denis - will also be converted into housing after the games, building on a legacy set by London 2012 when the Olympic Park helped transform parts of East London.
Of course, there will still be political criticisms.
Scaremongering about travel chaos and overcrowding around the host city is often written about in the lead up to an Olympics before being quickly ironed out and forgotten once the sport begins.
However, this will be a critical games for the Olympic movement after Tokyo 2020 was severely disrupted due to the covid pandemic.
There is also hope that Paris 2024 may act as a unifier after years of political division in France due to the rise of the far right.
But for now, it’s about the sport.
The eyes of the world will be on the Seine on Friday when the opening ceremony is due to take place outside of the Olympic stadium for the first time.
A parade of boats will transport the athletes 6 kilometers down the river to Trocadéro, when the games will be declared open underneath the spectacular gaze of the Eiffel Tower.
Then, it’s about the action and drama. The stories of hard work, dreams, redemption, victory and defeat.
It promises to be an incredible 16 days.
