A big first next year at the Paris 2024 Games: the Olympic and Paralympic shooting events will be contested far from the capital. Initially planned in Seine-Saint-Denis, the competition site was relocated to Châteauroux, a three-hour drive south of Paris.
Proposed last year to the IOC as an alternative to the initial site of La Courneuve, the National Shooting Sports Center (CNTS) of Châteauroux was validated by the executive commission of the body last September. Less than a year before the Games.
At the helm of the discipline for the COJO Paris 2024, the Englishman Peter Underhill (photo above). FrancsJeux continues with this former British army officer its series of interviews with the sports managers of the organizing committee.
FrancsJeux : Your life before COJO Paris 2024?
Peter Underhill : Before pursuing a career in the sporting movement, I was an officer in the British Army for over three decades. I practiced shooting, in Olympic and military disciplines, but without ever reaching the highest level. After the end of my career as an officer, I joined the organizing committee for the London Games as shooting manager. I held the same role for the Tokyo 2020 Games. In the meantime, I was a technical official at the Rio 2016 Games. I was also a sports manager for shooting at three editions of the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow 2014, Gold Coast 2018 and Birmingham 2022.
Your past experience of the Olympic Games?
I experienced the last three Summer Games from the inside. London 2012 and Tokyo 2020 within the organizing committee, as sport manager for my discipline. Rio 2016 under the International Shooting Federation (ISSF), as technical official. I was also present at the Beijing Games in 2008, as an observer, as part of my role on the organizing committee for the London Games.
A memorable memory from the Games?
The first gold medal of the London Olympic Games in 2012. As always, it is awarded on the shooting range, early in the day the day after the opening ceremony. It went to the young Chinese Yi Siling in the rifle at 10 m. The shooting site was temporary, but it was fantastic. Very futuristic. The public came in droves. Media attention was focused on us for this first title of the Games. For me, this gold medal was the accomplishment of all the years of work on the organizing committee.
The file at the top of the pile on your desk?
Preparing the competition site, at the National Shooting Sports Center (CNTS) in Châteauroux. The complex is of high quality, particularly on a technical level. It meets international competition standards. But it must be made an Olympic site, with all the requirements required for the event. It must be dressed as an Olympic site. The construction site is huge. This has been my priority for several months. But we have the right people to take on the challenge. When I joined the COJO, the shooting events were still planned in La Courneuve, in Seine-Saint-Denis. Six or seven months after my arrival, it was decided to relocate them to Châteauroux. The challenge was immense: starting from an almost blank page and accomplishing in a few months what is usually done in several years. But today we are on the right track.
The shooting site: its assets, the challenges in the run-up to the Games?
The main challenge is accommodation for the shooters, their staff and officials. For the first time at the Games, shooting will use a satellite village. Despite their distance from Paris, athletes must be able to have the best possible experience of the Games. They must feel that they are an integral part of the event. Teams will have the choice between three options for accommodation: a football academy located near the entrance to the shooting range, an international school also quite close, or rooms in hotels reserved for the Games. For the competition site itself, the “finals” building intended for indoor events will accommodate 650 people. We will also install an outdoor area with 2.500 to 3.000 seats to follow the competitions live on a giant screen.
Paris 2024 will be a success for shooting if...
The Games will be successful if we manage to satisfy the athletes, the public and the media. To engage everyone in the same momentum. For a sport like shooting, the Olympic Games provide a unique opportunity, once every four years, to benefit from large-scale exposure. We must offer a very high quality sporting presentation, as we did at the London Games in 2012. The Châteauroux site will be the perfect platform to succeed in this challenge. It's up to us to place the athletes in the best conditions. They must be happy to compete. A happy athlete is often a successful athlete.
