Paris is feverishly preparing for the Summer Olympics, with mass construction and renovations of streets, highways, monuments, tourist sites, metro and train networks, and museums in the city and in the suburbs. The official dates are July 26 to August 11 but some events such as rugby, soccer and archery will take place July 24-25.
It’s been 100 years since Paris last hosted the Olympics in 1924, when there were 22 sports. For 2024, there will be 32 sports, which include four special categories: sport climbing, skateboarding, surfing and a brand-new sport, breaking. Over 10,500 athletes from 206 countries will be competing in 329 events, although athletes from Russia and Belarus will be barred.
There are 35 sporting venues, most of them in Paris and nearby suburbs, but 10 events will be held far from Paris in the cities of Bordeaux, Marseilles and Nice, and the surfing competition will be 10,000 miles away in the French Polynesian island of Tahiti. Familiar tourist attractions in the city will host sporting events including the Place de la Concorde, Champs de Mars Park in front of the Eiffel Tower, the plaza of the Hotel de Ville (City Hall), Invalides, the Pont Alexander bridge, Place Trocadero and the Grand Palais. Equestrian events will take place at the Chateau de Versailles. After a €1.5 billion, massive cleanup of the Seine River, the triathlon and open-water swimming will be in the river but if it rains too hard and the river gets backed up, the swimming events will be held at another venue.
Sustainability was an important issue when Paris bid to host the Olympics and only one new venue was built from scratch, the aquatic center in the suburb of Saint Denis, while all the other games will be at pre-existing venues. The Olympic Village spans three suburban cities, Saint Ouen, Saint Denis and L'Île-Saint-Denis, and will accommodate 14,250 athletes. After the games, the Olympic Village will be converted into 2,500 new homes, a hotel, 17 acres of parks and gardens and a student residence.
One big surprise is the Opening Ceremony on July 26, which will be held on the Seine River, with athletes floating on boats and barges for nearly four miles. Security risks are high, so the city has downsized the number of people attending to 300,000 people, from 600,000. There’s even a possibility the Opening Ceremony will be moved at the last minute to another location. The Closing Ceremony on August 11, will be held at the Stade de France, just outside of Paris.
Security in Paris for the games will be of the utmost importance: 40,000 French police and 20,000 soldiers, plus 2,000 troops and police from other countries will be deployed to keep the city safe.
For crowd control, traffic and security, the city will be divided into various perimeters, starting in mid-June. The gray zones, which are closest to the sports venues, will have the highest security, with only allowance for registered vehicles and pedestrians with tickets for the events. The red zones allow bicycles and pedestrians but no motorized vehicles except for people with special dispensation. The blue zones allow bicycles and pedestrians and vehicles that must enter the zone. Certain metro stations, close to the venues, will be closed and thirteen bridges going across the Seine will be closed to car traffic.
Many restaurants and cafes will be open seven days a week, hiring extra staff for the large crowds. Michelin-star restaurants will also be open, some extending their hours.
As for hotels during the games, prices have fallen dramatically from a high of €759 per night on average from last September to €522 in February, and even less now. One reason is some sports federations that had pre-booked a certain number of rooms started to cancel their reservations in January. The projected occupancy rate during the games is now 62 percent, which is much lower than the same period in 2022 and 2023, which saw record occupancy rates. Several of the five-star palace hotels have significantly raised their prices for the days surrounding the Opening Ceremony and have a seven-night minimum stay, but some will have availability during the second half of the games. Many corporations and large groups have booked entire hotels. However, Airbnb’s during the games are in high demand with lesser price tags than hotels.
The metro may be the best way to get around the city because of all the vehicle restrictions, but the city has doubled the ticket price from €2.10 to €4 for a single ticket, a daily pass of €16 and €70 for a seven-day pass but, beware, 17 metro and RER (suburban railway) stations will be closed.
Paris will have a 17- day break after the Olympics, until the Paralympics start on August 18 and end on September 8.
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