Paris 2024 as a model for the 2038 Games in Switzerland

Olympic marathon in front of a dream backdrop.Bild: www.imago-images.de

Klaus’s Candies

Life at the Olympic Games is similar to being in a space station. But Paris 2024 was different in this respect too and shows what the Olympic Games in Switzerland could look like.

klaus zaugg / paris

Olympic Games are now almost all the same: whether in Russia, South Korea, Brazil, Japan or China. Artificially constructed worlds with little or no contact with the outside world. With reality. Like space stations. With a bus transport system created especially for the games. The hotels are integrated into this artificial world. From waking up to going to bed, this world is hardly ever left by the chroniclers. In any case, staying in the real world would be of limited use for most people due to language barriers.

For the first time since 2012, and even more so than in London, this Olympic isolation does not apply in Paris. Despite all the security precautions, the games are not a closed system. The service centers and competition venues are spread out like islands in the sea of ​​a large city in which the language of Voltaire is spoken, which is also one of the official languages ​​in our country. Archipelago Olympia instead of Space Station Olympia.

In Paris, the metro was also used by athletes.Bild: keystone

The public transport system (metro) is better than the artificial one built for the Olympics. What this means can be clearly seen in the working conditions for the more than 10,000 chroniclers: it is no longer necessary to work in sterile media centres without a reasonable supply of food and drink, which are averse to any inspiration and creativity. Instead, it is possible to set up quarters and a writing room in a Parisian apartment, like Ernest Hemingway once did, walk to the nearest bar and be inspired by real life.

In Paris you can escape the sterile Olympic work spacesklaus zaugg

And above all: the TV images for those at home have never been so good. Because not all arenas are more or less the same. The city’s cultural monuments are cleverly included in the picture again and again, from the Eiffel Tower to Versailles. Just as the Tour de France spreads the wonderful landscapes of France all over the world, billions have experienced the beauty of Paris in front of their screens.

It was the best combination to date of a global sporting spectacle with the special features of a city. Even if Paris did not need these games, it was still invaluable location marketing. Let’s leave aside the question of whether the costs are perhaps too high.

Nina Brunner arrives in front of the Eiffel Tower.Bild: keystone

Paris 2024 ultimately shows how the Olympic Games could and should be organized in Switzerland. The goal is to bring the 2038 Winter Games back to Switzerland for the first time since 1948.

The 2038 Olympic Games in Switzerland would have to be implemented according to the same philosophy as Paris 2024. Olympic islands would be spread across the whole country, connected with a public transport system and the surroundings of the competition venues would be integrated into the TV picture as cleverly as they have just been in Paris. The magnificent landscapes of our country would be made visible to a TV audience of billions. There is no transport problem: we have the best, densest and most punctual railway system in the world, which would be as important for the Winter Games in Switzerland as the metro was for Paris 2024.

Even if our country ultimately needs these games as little as Paris needed them, it would still be an invaluable marketing tool for the location. It will be a question of costs and money in two respects. Firstly, games in Switzerland are only possible if the private sector provides the majority of the financing and referendums are not necessary.

Olympic Games in Switzerland: soon a reality?Bild: keystone

Secondly, the Swiss Olympic dreamers, who were boundlessly naive in the past, are for the first time prepared to pay the price that is absolutely necessary for a bid: a decent tip into the pockets of those who decide on the award. The truly cynical, but perhaps accurate, brief analysis of why Sion lost the bid for the 2006 Games to Turin remains unforgettable. Although Sion’s bid was better in every respect, “The IOC officials know the difference between a raclette and a Ferrari.”

The problem should be solvable even without its own automobile industry. After all, Switzerland is still one of the most important financial centers in the world.

The best pictures of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris

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The best pictures of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris

The Frenchwoman Marie Oteiza chooses a rather less elegant variant of dismounting from the horse in the modern pentathlon.

quelle: keystone / mosa’ab elshamy)

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