2024 Olympics: Grades for the Games

With the Olympic movement at an inflection point in the minds of many experts, the 2024 Summer Games in Paris were vital for the International Olympic Committee to prove to the world that it is still relevant and attractive for major worldwide cities to have an interest in hosting. Based on SportsTravel’s experience in Paris — from the atmosphere to the food and transportation — here is an assessment of what the Games were like on the ground.

Atmosphere: A+

Every venue was packed. Every venue was loud. Nearly every country had some type of cheering section; the United States overall was noticeable; gymnastics sessions felt almost like a home meet for the U.S. At La Defense Arena where swimming was staged, other than on nights where Leon Marchand competed, the United States cheering section was at worst second-best in support and many nights the loudest. The Games also got an enormous home-country boost — not only with the exploits of Marchand in the pool. In many other venues, the French people used the Games as a chance to escape the political back-and-forth that has enveloped the country and instead grasped the chance to be proud to be French. No matter the sport, or a team or individual’s chances at a medal, they were loud and supportive. It was a treat to see in person.

In-Venue Experience: B

The in-house arena announcer pairings hyped up the crowd in both French and English. The venues being full meant they were enjoyable to see reactions. Hearing La Marseillaise sung, especially after Marchand’s two gold medals on that amazing Wednesday evening, was stirring. Going to Lille for some basketball and watching the U.S. men play Puerto Rico was striking in that there was no in-game DJ, so with a close seat you could hear and see reactions much better than at an NBA game. Now, for the demerits. Some venues, especially the volleyball arena, did not have the greatest signage once inside. Some of the volunteers, when asked a question, were not 100 percent helpful. There’s also one site, which shall remain nameless, where security looked at SportsTravel’s accreditation badge and mistook it somehow for an athlete’s credential, allowing us to enter through the athlete’s entrance. (We walked around the entrance and found another, less conspicuous way, to go inside.) While there were cooling misters for fans at Place de la Concorde, the lack of prepared shade at outdoor venues left fans drained during intense heat. And at the Closing Ceremony, when LA28 offered their biggest musical stars only on a stadium screen from California instead of in person, it sucked the energy out of the venue, causing many athletes and spectators to depart.

Food: B-

The Paris 2024 emphasis on sustainability was most noticeable in the signage around the arena promoting recycling and vegetarian options. When ordering any type of drink, concession workers poured your order into a plastic souvenir cup that you either kept or returned for a refund of two Euros. As for the food itself, there were basic options depending on the venue. At beach volleyball were hot dogs, hamburgers and some snacks. One of the food kiosks outside Stade Pierre Mauroy for men’s basketball served a cheeseburger with fries that was, shall we say, not completely cooked. It was not the type of varied, expansive menus you expect within venues in the United States.

Transportation: B+

The fan experience relied entirely on the metro system of trains and buses. There were very little to no car parking areas at stadiums. Paris 2024 tried to make sure it had volunteers at metro stations that had heavy foot traffic near venues and almost without fail, those volunteers were shepherding people into the directions of venues. Paris also tried to understand the heat issue by handing out free water to people throughout stations since the trains themselves were hit-and-miss when it came to air conditioning. The heavy heat did make getting from one venue to another an exercise in endurance — but you can’t blame the organizers for the weather.

The Venues: A+

This, more than any other thing, was Paris setting a standard that will be impossible for any future Olympic host to meet. C’mon, now — beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower? Fencing and taekwondo at the Grand Palais? Cycling down the Champs-Elysees? Equestrian and modern pentathlon at Versailles? While nothing was perfect — given the issues with water quality in the Seine, the insistence on going ahead with swimming events can be debated — there’s a case to be made that no Games ever had a better set of venues for fans to experience or for athletes to savor. In this age of social media, views of the Parisian landscapes went viral daily.

Overall: A-

Were the Games perfect? No. While there was an expectation the Russians would try to disturb the Games, the way it did so — with the Russian-backed IBA setting off a firestorm within the women’s boxing competition — saw the IOC react clumsily. Both the IOC and Paris 2024 organizers seemed unprepared for backlash to certain elements of the Opening Ceremony. But the French enthusiasm and the ability to see so many legends in one spot at various stages in their careers — the emergence of Marchand, the staying power of Katie Ledecky, the return of Simone Biles and the possible final appearances for Rafa Nadal or Novak Djokovic — was embraced and savored by fans. You also cannot overstate the success of the venues that Paris used. The Olympic movement had exactly the type of Games that it sorely needed.