Opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games: “We are ready”, this Friday evening, France welcomes the world on the Seine

La cérémonie d’ouverture des Jeux de Paris 2024 se déroule ce vendredi 26 juillet à Paris. MAXPPP - Paul Hanna

Three years after the Olympic Games were put on hold due to Covid-19 and a century after organising the event for the last time, Paris is welcoming the world once again. Since 2017 and the awarding of the Olympic Games to the French capital, nothing has been easy. The organising committee has had to juggle crises.

Like Fernand Sastre who passed away a few days before the 1998 Football World Cup, Bernard Lapasset will not be in the stands this Friday to assess the progress made. The former president of the French Rugby Federation died in May 2023. A year too early.

A major architect of the French bid since 2015, after having put the oval ball (7-a-side) back on the Olympic programme, he will nevertheless remain the one who started it all, the first link in a long chain essential to the success of Paris 2024.
Without Bernard Lapasset, Anne Hidalgo, traumatised by the failure of Singapore in 2005 (and the success of London 2012), would still be wondering about the opportunity to organise the Olympic Games in her city light.

Découvrez le parcours de la cérémonie d'ouverture des JO de Paris 2024

Ce vendredi soir, Paris ouvre des JO attendus depuis cent ans avec une cérémonie d'ouverture au dispositif encore jamais vu https://t.co/uBkRZvZkBp#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/F5F58dYru1

— L'ÉQUIPE (@lequipe) July 26, 2024

Without him, Tony Estanguet, knighted between two planes, would not be Tony Estanguet. This charismatic, brilliant leader, who will speak this Friday evening on behalf of the host country. Three years after the Olympic Games under glass in Tokyo, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and a century after having organized the event one last time, Paris welcomes the world again. Thank you Bernard.

Tossed from one crisis to another

“We are ready and we will be ready throughout the Games”, assures Emmanuel Macron. If the President of the Republic is telling the truth, that is already a small feat in itself. Since 2017 and the official awarding of the Olympic Games, the organizing committee (COJOP) has not had a single day of respite.

For seven years, the country has been fractured on all sides, tossed from one crisis to another, from the “yellow vests” to farmers and young people from the suburbs, the very people who were supposed to take advantage of these Games, in Saint-Denis or Saint-Ouen, to get their heads above water. Add to that a dissolution of the National Assembly just a month before the kick-off… It’s hard to do worse.

The opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Games will take place at the Trocadéro. Sina Schuldt/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom/MaxPPP - Sina Schuldt

France has lurched and the world has become a little crazier, if that were still possible. With more and more deaths in Ukraine, Israel or the Gaza Strip. Paris 2024 has had to deal with all the upheavals of History, each flap of the butterfly's wings, in Sarcelles or Kiev, inevitably accompanied by double-digit inflation. Not easy to keep to budgets, almost 9 billion including tax (Cojop plus infrastructure), and deliver the projects on time.

A few promises could not withstand the political and economic context. Free public transport for ticket holders, for example.

No problem, however, for all the salary demands conveniently pulled out of hats over time. Police officers, RATP agents or dancers, the last to have become threatening, will be entitled to a small or large bonus by the end of the summer.

Estanguet can enter History

The controversies will also have accompanied Tony Estanguet, sometimes overpaid, sometimes incited to crime for daring an opening ceremony outside the stadium and outside the norms. On this July 26th, he can definitively enter history, a great achievement after having already won three Olympic gold medals, or be pilloried if things go badly.

“We didn't choose the easy way. I remember from my past experiences that we don't do anything extraordinary the easy way. It's been a hundred years since we experienced that in our country. We are going to experience a precious, unprecedented moment, and I think it is going to be crazy!", Estanguet promised.

Le ciel s'assombrit pour la cérémonie d'ouverture des Jeux Olympiques de Paris. Alors que les dernières prévisions étaient plutôt optimistes, on anticipe désormais 70 à 80 % de chances de pluie ce vendredi soir. https://t.co/kdoCgUrn9K#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/9gZRon6cle

— L'ÉQUIPE (@lequipe) July 26, 2024

So far, he has rarely been wrong. Even if Parisians still grumble as much, the capital has transformed. The various competition sites built at the foot of the city's greatest monuments (Eiffel Tower, Concorde, Invalides, etc.) are incredible.

The ticketing is a success with a record number of tickets sold, nearly nine million. The 40,000 volunteers, the first faces of France, are doing as well as ever. The torch relay, which began in Marseille on May 8, still attracts as many spectators as ever. Soon, the sacred fire will light up Paris. The French athletes will then only have to give their best. Tonight, we forget everything.

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