“We are entering the final stretch, now we have to push for the ‘sprint’”assures a person responsible for the organization of the Paris Games this year, when this Monday there will be 200 days left until the inauguration ceremony.
The enormous work carried out so far “is of no use if it is not finished”, summarizes the boss of the Organization Committee, Tony Estanguet, who remembers his time as a canoeist to remember that all the training was in vain if the day of the competition did not You were one hundred percent.
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The official discourse in France is that preparations are on schedule and that the country will be ready to welcome more than 10 million spectators starting next July 26.
Paris has a significant advantage in this: most of the facilities were already built when it was chosen to host the Games for the third time on September 13, 2017, a century after the last.
That was one of the arguments most highlighted by those responsible for Paris, eager to end the era of the Pharaonic Games.
With 84% of the works already completed, compared to the 89% planned, there remain some shortcomings that attract the attention of those responsible for the organization, as recognized by the coordinator of the works, Nicolas Ferrand.
The person in charge also speaks out about safety and acknowledges that only 168 work accidents have been recorded in the 70 projects launched, four times less than usual.
207 days to go until the #Paris2024 Olympics.
240 days to go until the #Paris2024 Paralympics.We can’t wait 🎉 #HappyNewYear pic.twitter.com/ekvp6D9HkE
— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) January 1, 2024
Three works with delays
There are delays in three points, the works on the Grand Palais, three buildings in the Olympic Village and the Colombes swimming pool, a training site for synchronized swimming, but they are only a few weeks long and do not seem to put the competition in question.
On the 11th, the La Chapelle sports center, located in the north of the city, will open, one of the few works planned in the bid, which will host 8,000 spectators to initially attend the badminton events (between the 27th of July and August 5) and later rhythmic gymnastics (from August 8 to 10).
The works on this stadium, which will later be used by the Paris basketball team, are on schedule.
On March 1 it will be the turn of the Olympic Village, located in three locations in the north of the capital, 51 hectares that house apartments for 14,500 athletes and which, after the Games, will be social housing.
The construction of three buildings, which will house about 500 athletes, is somewhat delayed, according to Ferrand.
A few days later, work will be completed on the aquatic center, an original construction located in front of the Stade de France, the only new one planned exclusively for the Games and which will host synchronized swimming and diving.
The rest of the swimming events will take place in the Defense Arena, to the northwest, an impressive covered hall owned by the local rugby team that will undergo extensive renovation to include a swimming pool.
Adjusted schedule
It is one of the hottest points of the project, since on May 12 the last of Taylor Swift’s four concerts in the capital will take place, the last before her transformation for the Games begins. In two days, the place where the American star’s fans will dance should look like a swimming stadium.
Five days after the Olympic flame is lit in Olympia on April 14, another competition venue will join the Paris 2024 family: The Grand Palais.
This monument built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900 (the year in which Paris hosted the Games for the first time) and which features an impressive transparent dome, a display for the time, has been in progress for more than three years, valued at 466 million euros. , to host fencing (July 27 to August 4) and taekwondo (August 7 to 10).
The works accumulate some delay, although for the organizers it is not too significant.
Le Grand Palais is very symbolic of Paris’s desire to combine the monumental nature of the city and sports, something that will also happen in other parts of the city, such as the Eiffel Tower or the Place de la Concorde, but with ephemeral installations.
Controversy
Paris also brags about another of the points that have raised controversy in the country: there have been no major deviations in the 4,500 million euros budgeted, of which 1,721 million come from public coffers.
In fact, according to Ferrand, they have 57.5 million to face possible modifications to the initial plans.
200 days before the start of the Games, 7.6 million tickets for the competitions have already been sold, although it is still possible to buy some, not to mention that starting in April it will be possible for those who have already done so to resell those they have purchased. they are not going to use, they will be put up for sale again.
