One week before the opening, all eyes of the sports movement are on China and the Beijing 2022 Games. Normal. But in a few weeks, the wind will change direction. It will blow towards Paris and the Summer Games in 2024.
910 days before the opening ceremony, this Friday January 28, the OCOG Paris 2024 is not yet pulling its stride to attack the final round. But it has shifted into a year 2022 which, without yet being decisive, promises to be very busy. It will be dominated, for Tony Estanguet and his team, by five priority files. Here is the list and details.
Ceremonies
After having achieved its effect by announcing, at the end of 2021, that the opening of the Olympic Games would be the first in history outside the stadium, on a river, in the heart of the capital, the COJO will not mark any pause on the question of ceremonies. On the menu for 2022: the three other non-purely sporting events (the two closing ceremonies and the opening of the Paralympic Games), but also more precise work on the gauge of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in the heart of Paris. It is today set at a minimum of 600.000 spectators. But it could be revised, probably upwards. The OCOG will also unveil, during the 1er semester 2022, the artistic team in charge of the ceremonies.
Ticketing
The figures are already known: 13,7 million tickets for sale (10 million for the Olympic Games, 3,7 million for the Paralympics), for expected revenues of more than a billion euros. Sales to the general public will not begin before the first half of 2023. But the COJO plans to present, during the first six months of 2022, the major stages and methods of obtaining tickets for the general public.
The mascot
The issue is currently one of the hottest for the organizing committee. The official mascot for the Paris 2024 Games will be revealed before the end of 2022. The precise date has not yet been announced, but the event is planned for the start of the school year. The COJO likes to remind us: lFrance marked the history of mascots by offering the Olympic movement the first of its kind, a skier in a speed-seeking position called “Schuss”, during the Grenoble Winter Games in 1968.
The volunteers
Another folder placed at the top of the pile. In February 2022, sports federations and communities involved alongside the OCOG will be invited to list potential candidates. A vast national and international communications campaign will then be launched next fall. It will precede by a few months the recruitment phase of the 45.000 volunteers needed for the Paris 2024 Games throughout the country. The start of recruitment is announced for February 2023.
Construction sites
The file does not directly concern the COJO. Its jacket is stamped with the six letters of SOLIDEO, the public establishment in charge of delivering the Olympic sites. But the organizing committee monitors its progress without ever losing sight of it. On the Games sites, the year 2022 will be decisive.
The athletes' village, presented as the largest single-site construction site in France, currently employs 1.400 workers. There will be 3.500 in the fall of 2022. Delivery scheduled for 1er quarter 2024. At the media village (700 housing units for the Games, 600 thereafter), the structural work is underway and will be completed at the end of 2022. Delivery at the end of the 1er 2024 quarter.
The Olympic aquatic center (diving, water polo and artistic swimming) is ahead of schedule. The wooden frame will be installed from April 2022. Delivery scheduled for April 2024. At the Arena de la Porte de la Chapelle (badminton, rhythmic gymnastics and para weightlifting), the construction site is progressing according to the planned schedule. Delivery scheduled for 2e 2023 semester.
Finally, work begins at the very beginning of the year at the Marseille Marina, site of the sailing events. Initially, this will involve land works (cost: €30 million), with a reurbanization of the cove to make it functional in view of the Games. The maritime works (€10 million) include the repair of pontoons and dikes, and the dredging of the Marina. The project will operate at full capacity in 2022. It must be completed by the end of 2023.
