On Wednesday evening, a sixty-year-old woman in a wheelchair suffered the consequences of a rather poor organisation for welcoming people with reduced mobility at the Allianz Riviera in Nice. According to nice morningshe was left in the sun for more than an hour before being able to access her seat to watch the Olympic football match between Guinea and New Zealand.
As the kick-off was to be at 5pm, this 66-year-old from Nice planned ahead and arrived at the stadium well in advance, at 4pm. At the entrance, she found herself waiting with another person in a wheelchair, an American. Neither of them could reach their seats, as the security guards did not have the key to the elevators.
Nearly an hour under the blazing sun
They have no choice, they are patient. For a long time. And in the blazing sun. After 40 minutes of drying out in the sun, the security guards finally offer the two unfortunate women to go somewhere cool, in a garage, without telling them if they will be able to enter the stadium one day. A quarter of an hour passes, it is 5 p.m. From their parking area, the two women in wheelchairs hear the national anthems resonating. “I wanted to cry,” the woman from Nice confides to our colleagues.
Their salvation finally comes in the form of kind firefighters, who have a key that opens a gate that allows access to the PMR ramp. An hour and a quarter after arriving at the stadium, the Niçoise settles into her seat and can finally enjoy the show.
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Apart from security guards, police officers and firefighters, she and her unfortunate companion did not see any person from the organisation. And when she asked the Allianz Riviera for an explanation, the stadium explained that the lifts were broken and passed the buck to the Olympic organisation.