BEIJING: After two Games clouded by COVID-19 restrictions, Paris 2024 are looking to launch a new momentum for the sporting extravaganza, promising an Olympic “light at the end of the tunnel.”
One hundred years after France last hosted the Summer Olympics amid the post-World War One Années Folles (crazy years) period, Paris aims to be the stage for carefree Games as they return to Europe for the first time in a decade.
“We want to take the Games out of the stadiums, with a ceremony out in the city and a marathon open to the general public,” Tony Estanguet, a triple canoeing Olympic champion who was France’s flag-bearer at the 2008 Beijing Games opening ceremony, told Reuters.
Some 600,000 people are expected to attend the opening ceremony with around 160 boats setting off on the Seine on July 26 from the Pont d’Austerlitz for a six-kilometer journey to the Pont d’Iena.
While the lower part of the river bank will be subject to ticketing, there will be free access to the upper part with spectators able to see holograms on the water, dancers on the roofs of nearby buildings and aerial shows.
“We are very ambitious, we want to break new ground and offer a popular and spectacular Games,” said Estanguet of the Paris Olympics.
“With Milan-Cortina two years later, this is an opportunity for us to start a new cycle in Europe.”
The Winter Games were last staged in Europe in 2014 in Sochi, Russia, after London hosted the 2012 Summer Olympics.
EIFFEL TOWER
At Beijing 2022, crowds have been extremely limited as authorities sought to keep COVID-19 out of the country by segregating athletes and Games’ workers from the general public with a strict “closed loop” system.
Just 97,000 people attended events at the Beijing Games, while Pyeongchang in 2018 attracted more than a million spectators, organizers said at the time.
The Tokyo Olympics also took place under similar restrictions. Beijing close with a ceremony on Sunday.
In Paris, the whole city will embrace the Games, with some events staged at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
The Place de la Concorde will be the stage of new events — breaking and skateboarding — while the Chateau de Versailles will host equestrian competitions, and the Grand Palais will welcome taekwondo and fencing.
Three of those four venues are all within walking distance of each other.
“We want these Games to be popular, close to the people,” said Estanguet.
“For a lot of people, the Paris Olympics are the light at the end of the tunnel, there are a lot of expectations in these Olympics.
“The Games will change everything that has been done before, we’re going to experience something unprecedented.”
With great expectations come great responsibilities.
“We like that kind of pressure, we like to question ourselves. We’re going to do everything so that these Olympics make history,” Estanguet said.
“The Games changed my life, I hope these Games can change other lives and that France will magnify the Olympics.”
Olympics-Paris 2024 to be ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ says next Games chief
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Olympics-Paris 2024 to be ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ says next Games chief
- Paris aims to be the stage for carefree Games as they return to Europe for the first time in a decade
- Some 600,000 people are expected to attend the opening ceremony with around 160 boats setting off on the Seine
Alonso fears more pain in China with struggling Aston Martin
- Fernando Alonso said Thursday he expects another difficult weekend wrestling with his new Aston Martin at the Chinese Grand Prix after failing to finish the season-opener in Australia
SHANGHAI: Fernando Alonso said Thursday he expects another difficult weekend wrestling with his new Aston Martin at the Chinese Grand Prix after failing to finish the season-opener in Australia.
Silverstone-based Aston Martin endured a horror start after serious issues with their Honda power unit and a lack of spare parts.
Two-time world champion Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll had to endure extreme vibration in the chassis caused by the power unit, which was feared could cause the drivers permanent nerve damage.
“The situation unfortunately didn’t change within four or five days since Melbourne, so it will be a difficult weekend,” Alonso told reporters at the Shanghai International Circuit.
“We’ll limit the laps in one or two sessions as we are short on parts. We need laps, to find the window on the chassis side.
“I’ll be happy if we leave China with a more or less normal practice, more or less normal qualifying.”
The Spaniard could not put a timeframe on when improvements might come.
“What can I do within the team? Work harder, help Honda as much as I can,” said Alonso.
“We can allocate resources to help Honda with the power unit. We are one team, it is a bumpy start that I hope won’t last too long.
“We are pushing, we have very talented people in the team, so I hope within a couple of grands prix, we can have a normal weekend.
“To be competitive will take more time. Once we fix the reliability, we will be behind on power and things.”
The 44-year-old veteran has been in Formula One for more than two decades and has driven vastly different iterations of cars from the old V10 petrol engines through to the current complex hybrid configuration.
Despite the issues he said was embracing the challenge of the new cars enthusiastically in what could be his final season on the grid.
His Aston Martin contract expires at the end of 2026.
“Do we enjoy driving these cars? Yes, because we love racing,” Alonso said.
“I do four or five 24-hour races because I love racing and I love driving. So if you jump into an F1 car, you enjoy going fast.
“But it is a challenge, a different challenge.
“I was super lucky to race in (the last) era and I feel lucky to race in both.”
