Paris 2024 Olympics: the 33rd Olympiad comes to a close, while waiting for the Paralympics

Après les Jeux Olympiques de Paris 2024, place aux Paralympiques. MAXPPP

Organizational flawlessness, continuous jubilation and sporting exploits galore: after two weeks of victories, emotions, and sometimes disappointments, the Paris Olympics ended on Sunday, to make way at the Paralympic Games which begin in more than two weeks (August 28-September 8).

Paris had the air of the end of the holidays on Sunday evening. A successful holiday, with already a hint of nostalgia. In the blazing heat that was invited for the final hours of these Olympic Games, swimmer Léon Marchand, four-time gold medalist and one of the French heroes of these Games, extinguished the cauldron during the closing ceremony at the Stade de France.

A ceremony full of poetry, symbolizing a passing of the baton with the future Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028 and the Paralympic Games that will return to the capital at the end of the month.

“Sensational”

These Paris Olympic Games were “Sensational from start to finish”, declared IOC President Thomas Bach on Sunday evening. “The Games of the first leg” for the head of the organising committee Tony Estanguet, who has set a date for the Paralympics.

The Stade de France during the closing ceremony. MAXPPP

Tony Estanguet's nights were however cut short by capricious weather during the fortnight, which disrupted the events planned in the Seine, such as the triathlon or open water. But all the competitions did take place, and in the end, the Paris Olympics can boast of a perfectly organized event.

However, fears were great before the event, particularly around security issues for the opening ceremony. But everything went off without a major hitch, Ile-de-France transport held up, and the French, fragmented by the political crisis almost a month ago, took to the Games.

"We saw a happy France and this should not be minimized with the legacy of the Olympic Games", estimated Tony Estanguet on Friday.

Postcard sites

The world will undoubtedly remember the postcard sites of these Olympics, such as beach volleyball under the Eiffel Tower, or horse riding at the Château de Versailles. It will also remember the jubilation and enthusiasm of the French for their athletes, with an atmosphere close to hysteria sometimes in certain sites such as the Olympic swimming pool during the exploits of Léon Marchand.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are over.
Thank you 🥹

📸 #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/2LaUDNnqjd

— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) August 11, 2024

The exploits were legion for these Olympic Games, with stars in attendance such as the legend Katy Ledecky, crowned once again in the 1,500 meters in swimming, Simone Biles winning three gold medals in gymnastics, for a total of seven, and the pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, crowned again in Paris after Tokyo, and ever higher (6.25 m, a new world record).

Never have the stadiums vibrated so much for two weeks in France, with an incredible atmosphere on almost every site, and athletes pushed like never before.

A great atmosphere that the organizers also hope for for the Paralympic Games (August 28-September 8) which will take over in a little over two weeks.

The closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. MAXPPP

A curious coming and going should liven up the Olympic Village on Monday: the Cojo teams will indeed start working to clean and prepare the rooms to accommodate more than 9,000 people, including nearly 4,000 para-athletes, while the last athletes will leave the premises.

The transformation of the sites

The map of Olympic sites will also change, because only 16 sites out of the 25 for the Olympic Games will be used for the Paralympic Games.

The Concorde site which hosted the skateboarding events in particular will, for example, be dismantled. The Stade de France for para-athletics, the Alexandre III bridge for the start of the para-triathlon, or the Grand Palais for armchair fencing and para-taekwondo, will still operate.

Nos Jeux Olympiques sont finis, mais Paris 2024 continue. RDV le 28 août pour les 1ers Jeux Paralympiques d'été en France. Des athlètes, des performances, une fête que nous attendons avec impatience !
–
Our Olympic Games are over, but Paris 2024 goes on.
See you on 28 August for… pic.twitter.com/2MksncICJS

— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) August 11, 2024

Will the fervor that swept through France for the Olympic Games once again hit the streets of the capital and the sites ?

For the moment, 1.2 million tickets have been sold according to the organizers out of the 2.5 million planned. But organizers are counting on the effect of the Olympics to get these sales off the ground.

The event, however, risks putting the Ile-de-France residents back in a situation that they had perhaps thought was behind them. Some metro stations will be closed, the Olympic tracks still there, in the middle of the start of the school year: it will be a "somewhat difficult week" warned the Deputy Minister of Transport Patrice Vergriete.