In 500 days, it will be July 26, 2024, the start date of the Paris Olympics. France will host the Summer Olympics for the first time in 100 years, with far more colossal challenges than in 1924. The friendly competition revived by Pierre de Coubertin at the end of the 19th century has become a huge machine that still makes dream the athletes, but trouble the nights of the organizers, public authorities in mind. This Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron is also organizing a lunch at the Elysée, with, among others, Tony Estanguet, boss of the organizing committee (Cojo), and the managers of partner companies.
What about the infrastructure and the budget?
Workers who are still laying cables or trying to repair a few faults as the tournament begins. It is a classic of major sporting events, and we do not see why “our” Olympic Games would escape it. This Tuesday on France Interthe Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra however assured that everything would be ready “between December 2023 and the spring” 2024, “to then allow the Cojo to take possession of these places”.
Tony Estanguet wanted to be optimistic In West France “We are on schedule. Whether for the athletes’ village, which I visited last week, with accommodation designed in an exemplary and innovative way. The Olympic Aquatics Center is also meeting deadlines. »
For the respect of finances, it is something else on the other hand. During December, the Cojo (again) recorded a 10% increase in its budget, which currently amounts to 4.4 billion euros. In question, inflation of course, but also initially undervalued costs, in terms of payroll and security in particular. “Our model relies 96% on private money and the partners finance more than a third of the Cojo’s budget”, indicates Estanguet.
In total, the budget for the 2024 Games should amount to 8.8 billion euros. The estimate was “only” 6.6 billion in 2017. Here too, the increase in pain is a great classic in the history of the Games and it is not over. In January, the Court of Auditors indicated that part of the expenditure and the cost for public finances “will not be known until after the event”.
What logistics for 10 million spectators?
Even if Lille, Châteauroux or Tahiti, among others, will collect a few crumbs, the vast majority of the events will take place in Paris and its suburbs, essentially Seine-Saint-Denis.
Seven million people are expected during the Games (26 July – 11 August). “It’s like having 50 games a day for two weeks.” Sunday in front of the press, Laurent Probst effectively imagined the challenge that awaits Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), the transport organizing authority of the capital region of which he is the director general. For the Paralympic Games (August 28 – September 8), some three million spectators should be present, which seems more manageable a priori, except that we will then be in the back-to-school period.
The figures make you dizzy: the Olympics will be able to bring together up to 500,000 people a day, and this total does not include cycling or the marathon, which will attract a considerable number of curious people gathered along the routes. Inevitably, public transport will have to follow, since cars will be “machina non grata”.
Transport to the height, mission impossible?
RATP users are not currently having the best “travel experience” of their lives, to use LinkedIn language. And we are not talking about strikes here, but rather regularly crowded trains that give a small livestock side to the busiest lines. We can therefore legitimately widen our eyes at the idea of the work to come. “We will have to manage to transport 800,000 people daily: 600,000 spectators and 200,000 accredited members,” said Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra on France Inter.
I promise, it’s going to work: line 14, which is to be extended north to Saint-Denis Pleyel near the Olympic village and south to Orly airport, “will be ready on time, in the spring of 2024” , assures AOC. To manage the flows, it will be a question of increasing “the frequency of trains and buses by 15% on all the lines which serve the sites”, develops the minister. “We have recruitment plans underway.”
Jean Castex, now at the head of the RATP, must aim for more than 6,000 hires while he is currently mainly managing the staff shortage. “We will do everything to be there,” said the former Prime Minister. We have known more proactive speeches, while the former tenant of Matignon must also deal with a social climate which could be further darkened by the opening to competition of the bus network currently operated as a monopoly by the RATP, six months after the Olympics.
From there to considering a postponement of this measure to ease tensions, there is a step that Clément Beaune, Minister of Transport who discusses dryly with Valérie Pécresse, the president of the Ile-de-France region, could take.
What security after the Stade de France fiasco?
Collected transport, overwhelmed police and stewards, criminals at the party… If the final of the last Champions League between Real Madrid and Liverpool, on May 28, was intended as a repeat of the Olympics, you might as well pass on as soon as now the Olympic flame in Los Angeles, host of the event in 2028. Because even 10 more seasons ofEmily in Paris would not be enough to restore the image of our beautiful country. And we don’t forget the terrorist threat either.
During the Games, Laurent Probst the general manager of Ile-de-France Mobilités announces peaks of 1,000 people per minute. “For several hours, it’s quite unprecedented to manage,” he adds. But all eyes are also, or above all, on the opening ceremony with the delegations parading in a hundred boats on the Seine, which is as unique as it is grandiose and difficult to secure.
For the time being, 600,000 spectators, including 100,000 paying, are announced, distributed according to a device which would make Fermat’s theorem pass for an addition of CE2. But this influx could ultimately be limited to 500,000, or even less. “We are still 500 days away, there is still time to refine these gauges, and the logistical organization of this opening ceremony,” Estanguet told AFP.
More generally, the authorities want to bring out the heavy artillery so that the Games take place without too many hitches. “We have a very strong mobilization of internal security forces, 45,000 daily, 30,000 for the opening ceremony”, detailed Amélie Oudéa-Castéra on France Inter, with “at the peak 20,000 to 22,000 private security agents”. It also remains to recruit and train the said security officers…
Where are we with the ticket office?
The first phase of ticket sales in packs aroused enormous discontent, symbolized by the famous 24-euro seats touted by the Cojo, but as difficult to spot as a desman in a Pyrenean river. On the other hand, the tickets at 690 euros, sometimes for simple playoffs in athletics at the Stade de France, did not go unnoticed. Despite often exorbitant prices, 3.25 million places have already left, according to the organization.
The second phase, individually this time, will begin this Wednesday, with a new draw to sell 1.5 million tickets. “There won’t be enough for everyone and I expect this second phase to continue to generate disappointments and frustrations, admits Estanguet. It’s inevitable, but it will once again make people happy and you have to try your luck. »
The boss of the Cojo expected such a stir: “We knew that the demand was such that it could not “match” with the offer. There are many more people interested than tickets available even if we have 13 million tickets [en incluant les Jeux paralympiques]. The planned ticketing revenue should bring in nearly 1.4 billion euros, or nearly a third of the budget of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (Cojo). So yes, it’s often expensive, but think of the prestige of France when breaking your PEL for a weightlifting event, and it will immediately go better.