The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday validated the relocation of several Olympic sites for the Paris 2024 Olympics, namely shooting, boxing and modern pentathlon, with the preliminary basketball events still planned in Lille.
As expected, the body’s executive committee has smoothly endorsed the game of musical chairs announced in July by the organizers of Paris-2024, which combines logistical and political considerations.
The shooting competitions, initially planned on the ground of Essences in La Courneuve, will finally be held at the National Center for Discipline in Châteauroux, for lack of being able to deliver the Seine-Saint-Denis site in time.
To compensate for this departure, the playoffs for the boxing tournament have been moved to Seine-Saint-Denis, to Villepinte, as has the classification round for fencing in modern pentathlon. The boxing semi-finals and finals will remain at Roland-Garros.
However, the thorniest subject for several months, namely the qualifying phases of basketball before the final in Bercy (Paris), has not been decided, said IOC spokesman Mark Adams, referring to “very positive” and hoping “for a decision in the near future”.
The room initially planned, within the Parc des expositions de la Porte de Versailles in Paris, had concentrated criticism from several French basketball players, pushing the organizers to move the meetings to Lille.
But the choice of the northern metropolis hardly satisfies the International Federation (Fiba) and was particularly deplored by NBA player Evan Fournier, Olympic vice-champion in Tokyo.
Last week, after three days of meetings with the organizers, the president of the IOC coordination body, Pierre-Olivier Beckers, had promised a “short-term” decision in view of the technical elements “on air conditioning” from the room who are in discussion with Fiba.