The speech before the opening ceremony of the Paris Games should ideally be about its spectacular backdrop: a summer sunset over the Seine, as athletes float by in boats and wave to cheering crowds. .
But behind the romantic façade that Paris has staged for years, growing security concerns are already impacting the unprecedented outdoor event. In January, the number of spectators allowed to attend ceremonies was reduced from about 600,000 to about 320,000.
Tourists were told they would not be able to view it for free from the riverbank as the French government scaled back plans amid continuing security threats. Then, on March 24, France raised its security posture to the highest level after a deadly attack at a concert hall in Russia and Islamic State claimed responsibility.
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French President Emmanuel Macron said the ceremony could be moved to the national stadium at the Stade de France instead if the security threat was deemed too high.
The biggest concerns ahead of the Paris Games, which will be held from July 26 to August 26, are safety and transportation. 11.
A summary of the preparation is as follows.
Police officers patrol Trocadero Square near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on October 17, 2023. France has announced that it has approached 46 countries about sending more than 2,000 police officers to help ensure security at the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Michelle Euler, File)
venue
The Olympic Village and the bio-based aquatics center are located near the Stade de France. His 5,000-seat swimming venue, made mostly of wood, is connected to the National Stadium by a footbridge.
Villages and aquatics centers in poor, run-down areas both leave legacies for the future, but the Olympics have history written across its 35 venues.
Horse riders gallop through the grounds of the Palace of Versailles, where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette once held lavish banquets.
B-boys and B-girls cutting impossible shapes, BMX freestylers launching gravity-defying moves, skaters flipping boards, and 3-on-3 basketball players facing off in a youthful setting at the famous Place de la Concorde city park. It brings a nice atmosphere. A place from France's tragic past.
This is where Louis XVI died on the guillotine in 1793 and French revolutionary Maximilian Robespierre met the same fate a year later. This is also the home of his Luxor obelisk for nearly 200 years.
The Grand Palais, built for the 1900 Universal Exposition in Paris, hosts fencing and taekwondo. Meanwhile, the Yves du Manoir stadium on the northwestern outskirts of Colombes is another link to the past. It was the main venue for the 1924 Paris Games. A field hockey game will be held this time.
The Parc des Princes football stadium, home to Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappé, is one of seven stadiums across the country to host the match. French fans expect Mbappé to play for Les Bleus.
Beach volleyball is held near the base of the Eiffel Tower, and tennis is naturally held at Roland Garros, home of the French Open. Roland Garros, where Rafael Nadal set a record with his 14th Grand Slam victory in a single tournament, is also a strong boxing venue.
However, rather than Paris, the surfers will be staying in Te Aupoo, a coastal village on the island of Tahiti, nearly 10,000 miles away, and sleeping on a cruise ship docked on the French Polynesian island.
Sailing events are held in windy Marseille.
ticket sales
Organizers say about 9 million of the 10 million tickets available have been sold out, with 63% of buyers being French. Top 10 sports by sales: soccer, athletics, basketball, rugby sevens, volleyball, handball, beach volleyball, field hockey, tennis, water polo.
The Paris organizing committee plans to sell an additional 250,000 tickets on April 17 to commemorate the remaining 100 days.
Tickets are on sale through the official platform, and buyers can choose prices ranging from $26 to $2,900 using a sliding barometer. This is the highest price for the first ever Opening Ceremony to be held outside of a normal stadium environment.
Remaining hospitality packages for the soccer game and women's basketball quarterfinals start at $269, while the U.S. vs. South Sudan men's basketball game, to be held in Lille, an hour's train ride from Paris, on July 31st starts at $404. It has become.
Standard tickets for the U.S. women's gold medal rematch against Japan on July 29 range from $54 to $216.
Want to watch the BMX Freestyle Finals? Regular tickets are sold out.
However, fans can still get tickets for the men's 200m and women's 400m hurdles finals at the Stade de France on August 8th, with same-day tickets priced at €295, €525 and €980. ing.
safety
Approximately 30,000 police officers will be on duty every day, with 45,000 expected to be on duty at the opening ceremony.
With its own resources scarce, France has asked 46 countries to provide around 2,200 additional police officers, many of them armed. The French Ministry of Defense has also asked other countries to send a small number of military personnel, including sniffer dogs.
Paris Organizing Committee Chairman Tony Estinguett said unprecedented safety measures would be taken.
“Never before has France deployed so many security measures,” he said. “We believe that our security services will make the Olympics safe.”
More cameras will be installed throughout the city, but facial recognition will not be used.
So far, 120 heads of state have confirmed that they will attend the opening ceremony. Being held outside the stadium means greater exposure for the athletes, who will be paraded along the 5.7-mile route to the Eiffel Tower in 84 boats up the Seine, and 20,000 people living in apartments will attend the ceremony. You can see the scenery. Behind multiple cordon lines, paying spectators will watch from the lower side of the embankment, while the upper side will be free for those with invitations.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the area around the Seine River would be closed to traffic a week before the parade, and the airspace would be closed on the night of the ceremony.
Swedish swimmer Viktor Johansson will not be attending the ceremony as it is the day before the 400m freestyle, but he is confident of safety.
“I'm not worried at all,” Johansson said. “I think we took every precaution to make it safe and enjoyable for everyone involved.”
Transportation facilities
Driving in congested Paris can be hellish at the best of times, even during major international events.
Some of the 2.1 million people living within the city limits will be evacuated from Paris for more than two weeks, but motorists are outraged by plans to require them to apply for a QR code online to access restricted traffic zones.
The threat of a train strike must also be considered.
The CGT civil service union has announced plans to go on strike during the Olympics, which could result in many transport workers going on strike.
Transport operators are preparing to transport between 600,000 and 800,000 Olympic visitors per day. An advertising campaign on billboards called “Anticipate the Games” directs people to a website that explains how to reduce the impact.
On July 26, major national railway company SNCF banned the sale of tickets between three major stations very close to the Seine (Gare de Lyon, France's largest mainline railway station), Paris-Bercy and Austerlitz stations. Several other smaller stations will also be closed.
Subway tickets will increase in price from $2.30 to $4.30 for a single ticket, and from $18.30 to $34.60 for a set of 10 tickets.
Tourists who choose the Paris 2024 Pass will pay $17 per day, or $76 per week, which is a far cry from the free public transport once envisioned. The 20-minute express train service from Paris' main international airport, Charles de Gaulle, to the city center has been postponed until 2027.
But the newly expanded metro service on line 14 will be ready in June, transporting people from Orly, Paris's second airport, to Olympic hubs including the village, the national stadium and the aquatics centre.
hotel
More than 14,000 athletes and officials will be staying in the Olympic Village, with apartments accommodating up to eight people.
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However, fans and tourists are being affected by price hikes at hotels and Airbnb.
The Paris region has the highest concentration of hotels in France, with 160,000 rooms. When you add in rental accommodations, campsites, and other options, there are approximately 260,000 Olympic rooms in the region.
Some hotels tripled their prices, but competition from Airbnb forced them to retreat. The average nightly price has fallen from about $825 to $565, but is still much higher than last July's average price of $220.
