PARIS (AFP) – The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on July 26, 2024, will participate on the River Seine, organisers introduced on Monday (Dec 13), breaking the long-held Summer season Video games custom of a stadium procession of athletes and officers.
Greater than 160 boats full of athletes and officers from greater than 200 nations will sail virtually 6km between the Pont d’Austerlitz and Pont d’Iena bridges in central Paris, with the closing ceremony scheduled to be held on the Trocadero, an expanse of gardens and fountains which overlooks the Eiffel Tower.
“As we speak is a stand-out second,” mentioned Tony Estanguet, a three-time Olympic canoe C1 gold medallist who heads up the Paris 2024 organising committee.
“There are a variety of feelings, a variety of enthusiasm. The opening ceremony is by far the largest of markers.” Paris 2024 organisers expect crowds of 600,000 individuals for what they name the largest-ever Olympic ceremony.
A part of the general public might be dispersed alongside the banks of the Seine in ticketed stands whereas the remainder are ready to participate free of charge.
France President Emmanuel Macron rubberstamped the concept of getting the ceremony on the Seine in July regardless of some considerations voiced over tips on how to finest guarantee safety for such a large occasion that passes by many well-known components of Paris’ iconic cityscape.
Safety officers had requested for a restrict of 25,000 individuals whereas organisers and the Paris metropolis corridor had initially argued for 2 million, in keeping with a mayoral supply.
Prime Minister Jean Castex oversaw an interministerial committee assembly final month throughout which he requested Inside Minister Gerald Darmanin to makes some “recommendations” over safety for Olympic websites, notably the opening ceremony.
Castex mentioned he wished proposals “by the tip of the yr for the opening ceremony and June 2022 on the newest for all websites and occasions”.
“The inside ministry and the entire of presidency backed this ceremony,” Estanguet mentioned, including police could be aided by non-public safety alongside the 12km of accessible riverbanks.
Unprecedented name to public
In an interview with AFP, Estanguet spoke of his “absolute pleasure” in having labored on this concept.
“For the primary time within the historical past of the Video games we will organise a procession of athletes bang in the midst of the town, on the Seine,” he mentioned.
“10,500 athletes from 206 nations who will come to Paris and cross the town from east to west to see and uncover our nation’s most stunning cityscape.
“We anticipate at the very least 600,000 individuals, that is to say 10 instances greater than in a stadium just like the Stade de France for instance.
“It’s actually an unprecedented first,” he mentioned, “the place we handle to mix essentially the most stunning elements of our historical past, our tradition, our heritage.” Estanguet mentioned that whereas the ceremony could be “extraordinarily spectacular”, it will even be “extraordinarily standard”, accessible to the best quantity, together with some freed from cost, the primary for an Olympic opening ceremony.
“As a legacy of Paris 2024, now we have a want to go away France a sportier nation and our Video games kick off precisely with that ambition of opening up alternatives for everybody to participate,” he informed AFP.
“Will probably be the case for the opening ceremony, and will probably be the case for the marathon, which may also be open for the broader public to participate.” Seashore volleyball might be held within the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, archery at Les Invalides and the so-called ‘city sports activities’ of BMX freestyle, skateboarding, breaking and 3×3 basketball at la Place de la Concorde, Paris’ largest sq. on the japanese finish of the Champs-Elysees, arguably the world’s finest identified avenue.
“That want to take sport out of the stadiums to make it extra accessible to the largest variety of individuals is basically the DNA of Paris 2024,” Estanguet mentioned.
“It is born of the ambition of French sport to need to develop, to be promoted on the event of those Olympics.”
