Springtime in Paris: Counting Down to the 2024 Olympics

Paris. There may no city in the world with more words used to describe it through generations of travelers, journalists, novelists and any medium found. Paris is always a good idea, they say, and for sports it is especially true in the next year-plus.

The tennis world returns to Roland Garros in May for the French Open before the Tour de France cycles its way through the countryside en route to the Arc de Triomphe in July. At the same time this summer, the World Para Athletics Championships will be staged in Paris before the Rugby World Cup comes in the fall at multiple stadiums throughout France, culminating in the finals at the Stade de France.

And there is the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. It will be the first Games without pandemic-related restrictions in six years as the Opening Ceremony floats down the River Seine. Paris organizers are imagining the Games in a way unique — showcasing both the things those who love the city cherish, while trying to position the city as the front porch to the world.

“There is a vision behind the Games, a vision that we thought about in 2018 at the very beginning,” said Julie Matikhine, Paris 2024’s chief brand officer. “It is to open wide the Games to the world, open the Games to the maximum of people, open the city to the world coming to attend an extraordinary experience.”

During a recent visit to Paris organized by Atout France, one was able eat the food, savor the sights, be driven around the city center to gawk at the landmarks that make the city what it is. It was also a chance to see some of the sporting venues in place and hear about the focus on making one of the biggest sporting events in the world a sustainable one that tries to reverse the recent trend of an Olympics that leaves venues sitting empty and budgets exposed to overruns.

A Games That’s Easy to Get Around

No one knows if the mission of Paris 2024 will succeed. But no one can visit and leave doubting the organizers’ resolve in attempting to set a new course for the Olympics and how it is organized — using the beauty of Paris as its main selling point.

Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of sports and the Seine, said from the beginning of Paris’ bid that organizers had two main goals. One was to create a new model for a younger audience; the other was changing the Games model by having events held in a tight radius with plans for 80 percent of the competition venues to be within a seven-mile radius of the Athletes Village.

Near the Village, the Stade de France sits as an active monument to some of the biggest moments in French sports history — none bigger than when the stadium opened in 1998 for the FIFA World Cup, won by the home team against favored Brazil 3-0 thanks to two goals by Zinedine Zidane (the only athlete allowed into the stadium’s competitive areas without an event ID, said a stadium tour guide).

Stade de France will host athletics and rugby, one of several venues that will be used for multiple purposes. Roland Garros will obviously host tennis — but also boxing. Accor Arena (which will have a different name during Paris 2024 because commercial names are prohibited) is known for its sloping outside walls covered in grass and will host not just gymnastics, but the medal rounds for basketball.

Across the street from the Stade de France will sit the 5,000-capacity Aquatics Centre that will host artistic swimming, water polo and diving. It is noteworthy for more than the events it will host — it is one of only two venues that will be new, permanent builds for the Games with 95 percent of the events scheduled for venues that already exist or that will be temporary. The other new venue, the 8,000-seat Paris Arena II sports hall, was planned regardless of the Games.

Then there is the unprecedented Olympic Opening Ceremony. For the first time, it will take place not in a stadium setting but along the River Seine and its banks. Organizers say 42 river companies and 116 boats have already been identified for the event; the Seine is also set to host triathlon, marathon swimming and Para triathlon events. With a few exceptions, swimming in the Seine has been off limits since 1923 but a $1.5 billion cleanup was motivated by the Olympics and for it to live up to its billing as the world’s most romantic river.

While working to secure the future of Parisian landmarks, the Games will also pay homage to the country’s history. The marathon route starts at the Hôtel de Ville and finishes on the Esplanade des Invalides, drawing inspiration from the “Women’s March” of October 1789, one of the earliest events of the French Revolution when up to 7,000 women marched through Paris, Sèvres and St. Cloud before reaching Versailles.

“The Games are at the forefront of big symbolic change and we are proud of that,” said Matikhine, who later added “let’s start all now with a revolution through sports. We send this message to the French people and the world.”

More Than a Game

An Olympics is not just a sporting event. It can be, for fans and athletes alike, the chance to enjoy a destination on a day off. Next summer, could it be that the host city is so amazing that you could almost forget about the Olympics?

C’mon now, it’s Paris — walking up the Champs-Élysées toward the Arc de Triomphe is required of any visitor. Shop your way up and down each side of the street and then walk to Galeries Lafayette, a massive shopping mall with six levels, more than 3,000 brands, topped in one area by an over 100-year-old neobyzantine dome and in another part featuring a rooftop offering near panoramic views of the city center.

But this is where the organizers have planned the Games to be a spot where you can gawk at not just the beauty of the city but the level of competition. Beach volleyball will be at a temporary venue at the base of the Eiffel Tower. The marathon course will start at Hôtel de Ville and weave its way around the Louvre Pyramid, Grand Palais and Château de Versailles. Place de la Concorde, where Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were guillotined, will host 3×3 basketball, BMX freestyle, skateboarding and breaking.

“One of our goals and our vision of the organization was to go outside of the classic sports arena,” Rabadan said. “We would like to bring sports inside the center of the city and especially the city of Paris as the host city. It’s not easy to organize but we want to push that idea.”

“Usually, you see Olympic parks far away,” Matikhine added. “Here, we are mixing the city and the sport. We are creating a different experience getting out of the stadiums and bringing stadiums into the heart of the city. We have the most beautiful backgrounds ever to showcase sport and to organize a never-lived before experience for people.”

Outside of the city center is North Paris. It will be home to the Athletes Village, which will host 15,600 athletes and officials during the Olympics and 9,000 athletes and supporting teams during the Paralympics. After the Games, the 125-acre site plans to become a residential and commercial neighborhood with 6,000 inhabitants, one of the largest new planned housing areas in recent Parisian history.

During construction, the Games itself and afterward, the focus on sustainability is clear with a water-cooling system under the Village — much like the one that helps the Louvre cope with heat — planned to ensure that the temperature does not rise above 79 at night. Paris organizers have been in touch with national Olympic committees and said they will have the option of setting up their own AC units in specific cases, but only on condition that the devices comply with the organizing committee’s technical criteria.

“I’m absolutely convinced the Olympics will have a great impact on our territory,” Saint-Denis Mayor Matheiu Hanotin said. “It’s clearly a unique opportunity to show our ambition to the rest of the world. We see the Olympics as an accelerator, a new starting point. Welcoming visitors from the world, we will assert ourselves as a new centrality of the great Paris.”

Paris is great. People who care about it want to make it even greater and see sports as a way to do so. One thing is true: vive la France, forever.

Three Pluses for 2024

Sustainability at Forefront: The Athletes Village will use a water-cooling system much like the one that has helped the Louvre Museum cope with heat. The system aims to avoid using air conditioning with the carbon impact reduced by 45% during the construction phase and over the entire Olympic cycle, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has said. Spurred in part because of the Games, a $1.5 billion cleanup of the River Seine is being promoted as another sustainable impact of next summer’s event.

Paralympics Push: Phryges, one of Paris 2024’s mascots, wears a prosthetic running blade to highlight Paralympic athletes — the first time such a mascot sports a visible disability. Organizers have consistently made the Paralympic Games a key part of their preparation and Paris will host the Para Athletics World Championships in July 2023 with all athletes transported by Caocao Mobility, a transport fleet of electric or hybrid vehicles with an access ramp for people with reduced mobility.

Paris is Popular: Paris is one of the most well-known cities in the world. And hosting the biggest international sporting event open to the public since the pandemic began is pushing demand perhaps unseen to this point in Olympic history. And it’s not only fans. Sponsors of the Olympic movement are also wanting tickets to multiple events.

Three Issues For 2024

The Russia Question: It’s out of the local organizers’ hands but the IOC’s call to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals will be a lightning point on a daily basis. The IOC’s resolve seems strong; whether international federations will follow suit is to be determined as political pressure, especially throughout Europe, continues.

Satisfying Ticket Demand: Because Tokyo and Beijing had no fans, there may be no hotter ticket in Olympic history. A total of 3.2 million tickets were sold from the first phase of sales and 4 million have applied for the second phase in which 1.3 million will be sold. Organizers expect to generate nearly $1.5 billion in ticket sales and there has been criticism as approximately half of the $25 tickets were unavailable to the public with athletics tickets sold for up to $730.

Facing Protests: Organizers of the 2024 Games want around 45,000 volunteers, including at least 3,000 people with disabilities. But protestors opposed to President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reforms are threatening to sign up as volunteers when they’re anything but. Protesters blockaded the entrance to the Aquatics Centre construction site recently as well.