2023-10-22 21:54:17
The current ambassador for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is pleading for a plan B during the future opening ceremony.
Former Minister of Sports and Paris 2024 Ambassador David Douillet estimated on Sunday that a “plan B for the opening ceremony» of the 2024 Olympics was necessary for security reasons linked to the current geopolitical context.
«I hope that the geopolitical situation will be more peaceful so that we can experience peaceful Games, organized in the best possible conditions. If the day before, the lights are crimson red regarding the risk of attack, a plan B will be needed for the opening ceremony“, he said in an interview with La Tribune Dimanche. The Paris Games are due to open on the Seine on July 26, 2024, a first in the history of modern Olympics since all previous opening ceremonies have taken place in stadiums.
Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris Games organizing committee, assured last Monday in the daily L’Equipe that there was “no alternative» at this unique ceremony along the river. “From the start, the authorities and Paris-2024 have ensured that security is the number one priority for the success of the Games», he added in this interview, published three days after the Arras attack and a week after the flaring of the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas.
Disagreeing with this statement, David Douillet believes that it is still possible, nine months before the ceremony, to prepare a plan B. “I don’t see the French state and the organizers taking crazy risks for the population.», he justified in the columns of La Tribune Dimanche.
The July 26 ceremony, as planned, is a challenge in terms of organization and security, and its artistic aspect is ultra-confidential. The exact number of spectators is not yet known: 100,000 paid seats installed on the lower level of the quays of the Seine, and 500,000 free seats at the top were first mentioned but this gauge is at the center of numerous discussions, even friction, between the Paris town hall, the Games organizing committee and the capital’s police headquarters.
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