The date is symbolic. D – 1 year before the opening of the Paris 26 Olympic Games on Friday July 2024. Symbolic and protocolary, as Thomas Bach will explain this Wednesday afternoon, sending the official invitations to the national Olympic committees from the COJO headquarters in St Denis.
Only one year left, therefore, before the first Summer Games organized in France in a century. Only 365 days before the first Olympic and Paralympic meeting since the health crisis. The first where the stands will not sound sadly hollow.
At this stage of preparation, where is the OCOG Paris 2024? What does his roadmap look like? What does his progress chart look like? The answers in a few key points.
What is done
The sites. Tony Estanguet repeats it, Thomas Bach readily repeats his words: the map of sites does not present any gray areas. The health crisis delayed the work, then the war in Ukraine increased the costs. But, barring the very unlikely catastrophe, all equipment will be delivered on time.
The president of the OCOG detailed it last week at a press conference: the athletes' village will be completed in March 2024, the Olympic Aquatic Center the following month, the Arena at Porte de la Chapelle in June.
Marketing. The long-awaited arrival, made official on Monday July 24, of the LVMH group as the sixth – and final – premium partner of the COJO has removed the last doubts. The Paris 2024 national marketing program will not be in the red. “ We have exceeded one billion euros in partnership revenue”, Tony Estanguet proudly announced last week to the media. The contract with LVMH, for an amount estimated at 150 million euros, had not then been officially signed. The organizers can approach the last year without anxiety: the stated objective of having completed 92% of marketing revenues by the end of 2023 will be achieved.
Ticketing. She created controversy, animated social networks and crystallized discontent. Too expensive, too complex. But the results speak for themselves: the OCOG has already sold more than 6,8 million tickets for the Olympic Games alone, for revenue also in excess of a billion euros. According to the IOC, the performance would be historic. The third phase of selling tickets, individually but “ along the water”, is currently in progress.
Mobilization. It was not a foregone conclusion, especially with a health crisis with devastating effects and an uncertain and terrifying geopolitical context. But, here too, the figures speak volumes: more than 4.000 municipalities and territories labeled Terre de Jeux, a Paris 2024 Club with more than 4,4 million members, 312.00 candidates for the volunteer program (for 45.000 places). Nothing to say.
What remains to be done
Remove doubts. The latest opinion surveys all drive home the point: the French are not yet watching the Paris 2024 Games with a smug smile and optimistic outlook. They say they are concerned, and the Court of Auditors with them, about the issues of security, transport and costs of the Games. Obviously, the reassuring, even sometimes triumphalist, speeches of the OCOG and the IOC struggle to convince. Over the next twelve months, organizers and public authorities will have to reassure public opinion about the doubts that are inevitable for an event of this magnitude. They will also have to get rid of suspicions of corruption linked to recent searches requested by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office.
Selling the Paralympic Games. Identical logo and torch, common Club France, unified French team... The COJO has spared no effort to raise the Paralympic event to the height of its Olympic predecessor. With success ? A first element of response, undoubtedly the most revealing, will be provided with the results of the sale of tickets for the Paralympic Games. Ticket sales are expected to begin this fall.
Settle the Russian question. It does not depend on the COJO, but only on the IOC. And Thomas Bach confided it last week: the question of participation “ of neutral individual athletes carrying a Russian or Belarusian passport” at the Paris 2024 Games will not be decided during the summer, nor undoubtedly at the time of the IOC session next October in India. Patience, therefore. At the last count, around twenty international federations have decided to reinstate, or consider doing so, athletes from the two countries in competitions. Only nine others took the opposite position. But in this small group, only three are directly concerned by the Russian question at the Paris 2024 Games, since they manage individual sports: athletics, horse riding and surfing.
