We are promised great things. For the start of the 2024 Olympics, which will take place on July 26 next year, the organizers are thinking big. “Bold, original and unique”, the opening ceremony “will mark Olympic history with great firsts”.
And for good reason, for the first time in the history of the modern Games, it will not take place in a stadium. The theater of the ceremony will be the Seine, where 10,500 athletes will parade on a hundred boats and in front of 600,000 spectators. A true Roman triumph.
116 boats, 98% of which are Parisians
But this gigantic procession requires space and organization. However, the river is already quite busy in normal times. Barges, riverboats, river freight or restaurant boats, all will have to bow to the reality of the Games and worry about the place they will hold there.
The Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (the “Cojo”) confirms to 20 minutes that the boats on the Seine will be in good demand. For the opening ceremony, a main fleet of 116 boats will be deployed to transport officials and delegations, including “98% from the Parisian environment”. A secondary fleet will also infiltrate to allow television broadcasting, and journalists and photographers to be closer to the action.
“Some boats have already been selected,” explains Olivier Jamey, president of the Port Community of Paris, the association of economic and cultural players on the river. Imperative to participate: have a large open-air terrace: “It’s a show for spectators and for television. You have to be able to see the athletes. »
Speedboats and barges “requisitioned” and compensated
“The boss told us that we would be transporting a delegation, but we will only be informed of the country at the last minute for security reasons, laughs Nathan *, employee on a restaurant boat, who is already looking forward to to be there.
For the occasion, the Cojo claims to have put in place “a single contracting policy for all the companies identified: flat-rate, transparent and fair prices”. Enough to involve the “locals” and compensate them. Clever.
Because these vessels will be “requisitioned” ahead of the ceremony, as confirmed by Paris Seine, owner of around ten boats, six of which will parade in what promises to be a veritable ballet: “During the entire previous week, we going to work on organization and synchronization. »
The left behind still hope
Everything seems in place so that spectators and actors can enjoy themselves. For the others, however, it’s grimace soup. “Our restaurant has neither a terrace nor an engine,” breathes Chloé* from the bridge of her skiff, which is also floating in the center of Paris. Suffice to say that for us, it will be on TV. “Because in addition to not being able to participate in the high mass, the restaurant will probably not be able to open its doors to welcome customers. “Because of Vigipirate, we will be closed. Even we employees will not be able to access the dock. A disappointment for these merchants who welcomed the Olympic Games with happiness.
There remains the hope of a solicitation from On Location**, the company in charge of all hospitality at Paris 2024, to welcome VIPs or an event on D-Day. An uncertainty in which a large part of the Parisian armada, which cannot take part in the opening ceremony. “It’s very delicate to talk about it because it negotiates ”dry”. We are discussing with the Cojo and the shipowners’ organizations to have either a paid role or compensation, ”explains the spokesperson for a major shipowner on the Seine.
A negotiation which started at the end of 2021 for houseboats, these private barges which give a bucolic aspect to the river. Of the hundred identified, 21 have been identified by the organization as “needing to be moved for the smooth running of the athletes’ landing sequences” which will take place over a few hundred meters at the Trocadero, near the Jena Bridge.
Twenty barges moved to Boulogne-Billancourt
Their fate is settled since they will be moved to Boulogne-Billancourt by the Paris police headquarters, and “Paris 2024” will take full charge of the travel and relocation operations. “They will have the choice between a hotel stay or a furnished rental at the organization’s expense. But they can very well decide to stay in their accommodation once it is relocated, ”says a source from the Cojo.
Still, such an organization is full of a multitude of details that are still unresolved. Hence the avowed concern of all the actors contacted on this subject. In particular freight professionals for whom the Games arrive in the middle of the “grain campaign”, and for the construction industry for whom the Seine is an essential corridor for the proper functioning of Île-de-France.
However, they can be reassured for the rest of the Games, assures Olivier Jamey. The Seine is not intended to remain closed to all traffic for the duration of the festivities. “All the events that will take place on the Seine (triathlon, open water swimming, etc.) will end at 11 a.m. at the latest for the Olympic Games and noon for the Paralympics so that activities can resume an hour later. »
*Names have been changed at the request of respondents.
**Contacted by “20 Minutes”, the company On Location has not yet responded to our requests