(ATR) Paris 2024 and International Olympic Committee leaders are speaking the same message during the first meeting of the Coordination Commission in the French capital: partnership is the key to success.
"I count a lot on the expertise of the IOC," Paris 2024 chairman Tony Estanguet tells Around the Rings at the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) headquarters. "For us it’s a new chapter and we are very, very committed to the success of Paris 2024."
The conclusion of the first new chapter of the Paris 2024 Olympic project will be written in January when the first members of the Organizing Committee are chosen by Estanguet and the founding members of Paris’ bid for the Games.
The only position open thus far is that of chief executive officer which Estanguet says he expects to make a decision on by Dec. 21. Bid committee CEO Etienne Thobois is expected to be a front-runner for the position in the new OCOG, but Estanguet says they have already received many applications. The majority of the OCOG is expected to be formed by mid-January.
IOC member Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant is attending the Orientation Seminar at CNOSF headquarters in his first public appearance as chairman of the Paris 2024 Coordination Commission. A member since 2012, he tells ATR he expects the formation of the OCOG to be quite the challenge.
"In fact, I think the coming month will be quite intense and stressful but the name of the game is to put that train on the right tracks," he says. "And once we have done that – and we plan correctly and stick to our budget – I think the task might actually be easier at the end of the day than what everybody fears."
Beckers-Vieujant stressed to ATR the importance of sharing one vision of the Games between the IOC and Paris 2024.
"The biggest danger that could face the preparations of the Games is that everyone works in silos with their own vision and own way of doing things," he says. "That we lose a lot of time in aligning people, and we don’t have a lot of time because we have roughly six years-plus to be ready and the task is immense, colossal in fact."
IOC Executive Director Christophe Dubi echoed the sentiments of Beckers-Vieujant as he shifts his focus from evaluating the Paris 2024 project to delivering it.
"This notion of co-construction, the spirit of co-construction, started already with a process that was much more engaging and where we already had a good dialogue with Paris 2024 and the Evaluation Commission," Dubi tells ATR.
"Now we are moving into a full partnership situation, where we will rely on the strengths and expertise of everyone. Here in Paris they have a context which they have mastered, they have all the right connections in the political system, in the business world, in the administrations. We bring some expertise regarding the Games themselves and if we blend all of this together it’s a very strong team."
Estanguet says he believes the Orientation Seminar is the perfect launching point to bring the visions of Paris 2024 and the IOC together as one.
"We really want to put in place the best systems and use the best practices from the last editions of the Games," he says. "It’s so important to have this Orientation Seminar and to really listen to their advice and count on the best practices they offer to us.
"Even if we have a great team and a great project, we also know that we will face new challenges, new problems to be solved and that’s why it’s so important we put in place this collaboration and partnership with the IOC."
Paris 2024 and IOC leaders have begun the process of sharing expertise with this first meeting of the CoComm which concludes on Dec. 1.
Reported and written by Kevin Nutley in Paris.
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