(ATR) An International Olympic Committee delegation confirms its confidence in the security measures for Paris 2024 at the end of a two-day technical visit.
The chair of the IOC Coordination Commission for Paris 2024 Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant led the mission to Paris, which coincided with a series of violent anti-government protests in the capital and a terrorist attack in Strasbourg.
"At five and a half years of the Games, nothing changes in our demands, there is no fear on our part (...) France has been at the center of events of a violent and terrorist nature in recent years, but is used to organizing very big events," said Beckers-Vieujant after expressing his solidarity and compassion to the families of the victims of the terrorist acts.
"We are confident that the authorities will be able to guarantee adequate security for this global event represented by the Olympic and Paralympic Games."
Last Tuesday in an attack on a Christmas market in Strasbourg, 490 km east of Paris, three people were killed and 13 wounded. The alleged terrorist was killed on Thursday, according to police.
On Wednesday and Thursday the IOC mission met with the Organizing Committee headed by Tony Estanguet to analyze the progress of Paris 2024 in all areas.
The Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu and the Interdepartmental Delegate of the Games, Jean Castex, future president of the new National Sports Agency, also exchanged with the IOC representatives and transmitted the guarantee of the support of the authorities in all aspects, including financial.
Since the election as host city of the 2024 Olympic Games in Lima in September 2017, the Organizing Committee has been working closely with the IOC.
Initially called Project Review, the name historically used by the IOC for this type of regular technical meeting, this step has been baptized this week as "Meeting of organizing partners".
Both sides reviewed the five main objectives established by Paris 2024 for 2018: set the backbone of the vision (sports program, development, legacy, celebrations), create a team, confirm the financial framework, develop the heritage architecture and define the Master Plan (the main infrastructure program).
"Paris is where they promised us," Beckers-Vieujant summed up.
By the end of the first quarter of 2019, Paris 2024 must launch tenders and markets.
In March it will present a pre-selection of additional sports for the Olympic Program to the IOC. A decision on the number of sports and the specific disciplines has not yet been made.
Estranguet ruled out any esports in the Paris 2024 vision. "They are not today a federation recognized by the IOC," he said.
On the possibility of an "open" opening ceremony such as the one organized by Buenos Aires at the last Olympic Youth Games, and which received so much praise from the IOC president, Thomas Bach, Estranguet agreed with the need to be creative but warned that "to talk about the ceremony today is too early, it's not a priority".
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
