● From our sister site, TheSportsExaminer.com ●
Those who believed that the Olympic Games are passe are choking this morning on their croissant with the overwhelming success of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, now concluded in Paris.
And when have you heard a team owner or league president thank – first and foremost – the fans?
Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet did exactly that in his moving Closing Ceremony remarks, which stunningly included:
“When the Olympic Cauldron rose up into the Parisian skies, a momentum began.
“And from the next morning, with the first medals, a wave started building. This wave took over the country, carried the whole world in its wake and went beyond anything we could imagine.
“We wanted strong images, our competition venues will go down in the history of the Games. We wanted excitement, we got passion. We wanted to be inspired, we got Leon Marchand. Together, we have experienced Games like nothing the world has seen before.
“We even had a whale take part in the surfing finals in Tahiti!
“From one day to the next, time stood still and a whole country got goosebumps. From one day to the next, Paris became a party again and France came back together. From one day to the next, the whole of France became Olympic.
“All of this was only possible because all of you showed up. First, you, the millions of spectators. … Your passion made every first round a final; every venue a raucous arena; every medal a national holiday.”
The French people were incredible:
● Paris 2024 sold more tickets – 9.5 million out of about 10 million available and mostly to the French – than any other organizing committee in history, by at least 1.2 million. And even the events without tickets were adored, with perhaps a million on the streets to see the two cycling road races, a national passion in France.
● The French turned out in tens of thousands to the nine-day “Champions Park” concept that parallels the Medals Plaza at the Olympic Winter Games, with more than 220,000 to meet hundreds of medal winners, see musical performances of all kinds and follow the action on giant screens.
● More than 1.3 million went to check out the “Nations Park” in the Parc de la Villette, with more sports demonstrations and the “national houses” of 15 National Olympic Committees.
● The new “Marathon Pour Tous” had 17,361 runners from 20 to 85 running on the Olympic Marathon course starting at 9 p.m. on Saturday and another 16,440 from 16 to 94 for the 10 km race that started at 11:30 p.m.!
● And there were millions more who attended festival events in communities across the country, also set up with giant screens, music, sports demonstrations and more.
Estanguet thanked the athletes, the Paris 2024 staff and the 45,000 volunteers – both of whom have the Paralympic Games ahead of them – and the government agencies and security services, who kept the Games safe, despite the braying of the naysayers. And he again spoke to the core of Paris 2024’s success:
“You have made these Games your Games. You have all shown up. France has shown up.
“We saw ourselves of a people of diehard complainers… we found ourselves in a country of wild supporters, who never want to stop singing!
“Tonight, I have never felt so proud to be French. Together, we have shown the world the most beautiful face of France.”
Paris and France embraced the Games, a scene which has been repeated again and again over the decades, but was lost in the misery of the Covid pandemic, which silenced the Tokyo 2020 Games.
It was magic, Olympic magic and even Estanguet, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in slalom canoeing, expressed his surprise in how it all turned out:
“Like an athlete getting ready for the biggest competition of their life, we planned for every scenario… But we weren’t ready for that.
“There is no way we could have prepared for everything we have just experienced together.”
One of the greatest achievements – and least noticed – was the close cooperation of Estanguet and chief executive Etienne Thobois and their staff with the public authorities, especially the City of Paris, the Ile-de-France region which handled much of the public transport, and the French Interior Ministry, which led the security effort.
The City of Paris and Mayor Anne Hidalgo, especially, had their own ideas about what was important about the Games, especially in the sustainability arena. Yes, there were complaints about the lack of air conditioning in the Olympic Village, but everyone got through it. The Seine was, indeed, clean enough to swim in. Bridges and roads were closed, but once everyone figured it out, life went on, as did the Games.
It was exactly this widespread, private-public cooperation which made Los Angeles 1984 such a success, and which doomed Atlanta in 1996, when the city and the organizers were barely talking to each other. It will be needed again in Los Angeles in 2028.
After the devastating impact of Covid on Tokyo 2020, the Olympic Movement needed Paris 2024 and needed France. And the French stepped up. The important, memorable and pivotal Paris 2024 Games will always be known as the Games where the love returned to the Olympics.
~ Rich Perelman
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