Summer Olympics 2024: Olympia conquers the city: spectacle atmosphere in Paris

At the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Wednesday, hundreds craned their heads and stared up, spellbound: Climbed on a rope French extreme athlete Anouk Garnier climbed up to the second floor of the legendary building. In a breathtaking 18 minutes, the woman from Burgundy climbed up the steel structure to the second platform at a height of 110 meters: a world record! According to the Guinness Book, the old best was held by a South African with a 90-meter climb. With the campaign, the athlete collected donations for the French Anti-Cancer League; her mother is suffering from cancer. The videos of Garnier’s rise went around the world.

The density of spectacles in the city of Paris, which is not exactly poor in sensations, will increase considerably again in the coming weeks: only a good three months left and then on July 26th on the Seine Summer Olympics Opened in 2024, followed by the XVII on August 28th. Paralympic Summer Games. On the way there, the steeplechaser Anouk Garnier will also be able to carry the Olympic flame through the country before the flame reaches Paris for the third Olympic event after 1900 and 1924.

Olympia you can touch

The Olympics want to cover the entire French capital. Already the “opening parade” of the Games of the XXXIII. The Olympics will be held on the Seine. More than 300,000 spectators are expected along the six-kilometer stretch of river between Pont d’Austerlitz and Jardins de Trocadéro when the 205 participating delegations chug past in ships for the opening. The Olympics are then almost within reach.

The government has declared the highest security alert level after the terrorist attack on the Crocus concert hall near Moscow. But overall there is nothing to change about the Olympic plans for the open games, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told the newspaper “Le Parisien” on Tuesday. There is currently “no characteristic terrorist threat” to the games: “Therefore, there is no question of questioning this organization.”

On the contrary, it is highly secured major events such as the Olympics where there is the least danger. 45,000 police officers are deployed for the opening ceremony alone, and access to the area is restricted weeks in advance. In addition, 2,500 mostly armed foreign police and security forces will be on site on the first evening of the games to protect their respective teams.

Gigantic rings on the Eiffel Tower

The Olympics are already taking over the city these days: at the end of the month, huge Olympic rings will be installed on the Eiffel Tower. On the Seine side, between the first and second platforms, 29 meters wide and 15 meters high, the five intertwined rings, 60 meters high above the city, are illuminated at night. Such gigantic rings are now standard in the respective Olympic host cities: in Tokyo in 2021 they floated on a raft in the harbor, in Rio in 2016 they stood on Copacabana, and in 2012 they were emblazoned on London’s Tower Bridge.

In the summer, beach volleyball players will play for medals on the Field of Mars next to the Eiffel Tower, and a temporary hall for judo and wrestling will be built next to it. On the opposite side of the river, the Trocadéro Garden becomes the Champions Park, where the medal winners celebrate every day with family, friends and fans. 13,000 people can gain entry there every day. Not an easy task for the security guards.

Olympia is and remains the sports festival of ceremonies, gestures and rituals: On Tuesday next week, the Olympic flame will be lit in the sacred grove of Olympia in the west of the Greek Peloponnese peninsula, which will then be lit on the three-master “White” sails to France. The ship will dock in Marseille on May 8th. The flame will then tour through the Grande Nation and in the meantime even travel by catamaran to the six French overseas territories.

Trouble in Tahiti

The Olympic surfing competitions are held on Tahiti, the largest island in French Polynesia, a good 15,000 kilometers from Paris. Teahupo’o’s huge waves are legendary. However, the Olympic competitions are controversial among locals; at least since a barge damaged the coral reef in December while laying the foundation for a 14-meter-high, nine-ton aluminum tower that will accommodate a surf jury and TV cameras. There was a huge outcry from the local environmental organization Vai Ara O Teahupo’o collected more than 250,000 signatures online calling for the temporary wooden tower to be used instead of the aluminum tower, which has previously been used in international competitions. In the end, the Olympic organizers decided on a lighter aluminum tower.

The Seine is too dirty

Environmental concerns were also raised in Paris itself this week. The Biarritz-based environmental organization Surfrider Foundation reported on Monday that it had analyzed tests of Seine water conducted by a laboratory over the course of six months: The river water remains polluted and potentially dangerous for the athletes who are supposed to swim here for Olympic medals: open water swimmers and triathletes have to crawl through the Seine during their competitions .

Head of organization Tony Estanguet rejected the NGO’s concerns at a press conference on Wednesday: “It was never about wanting to swim in the Seine in winter. The goal now is to be able to swim in the summer and everything is being done to ensure that this is the case next summer,” said the former canoeist. All preparations went according to plan. A large part of the 7.9 million tickets have already been sold, and 250,000 new tickets will be available from 10 a.m. on Wednesday Online sales. “If you need some, you should hurry.”