Games alert. After an overly watery opening, then a weekend in the cool, Paris 2024 sinks into the heat. The hot weather. The heatwave, even if the word is not yet spoken in high places.
In its latest bulletin, Météo France announces temperatures of 35° to 36°, or even a little more, over a large part of the country, including the capital. The forecast also anticipates thunderstorms at the end of the day, Tuesday July 30.
The results ? Multiples. For athletes, first. In the Olympic Village, the air conditioning blows with the same frenzy as in a shopping center in Southeast Asia. The rooms do not have an air conditioning system. But before the start of the Games, the organizers admitted that more than 2.500 portable devices had been rented by the delegations, mainly from the organizing committee.
France, the host country, did not spare it. Like most of the great nations of the Olympic movement, engaged in an intense battle for the medal rankings, it has abandoned the fine principles of sustainable development to favor performance. Given the results – 16 medals on the evening of Monday July 29 – no one will blame it.
Asked at a press conference about the annexation of the village by air conditioners, the spokesperson for the COJO Paris 2024, Anne Descamps, gave a very diplomatic response: “ We have found a balance between the long-term project of a village built to the most sustainable standards, and our short-term responsibility to offer athletes the conditions most conducive to performance. » Clearly, sustainability will wait until the end of the Games.
For spectators, the rise in temperatures promises to be a physical test. On Monday, July 29, many of them gave in to the attacks of the sun on the open-air and poorly shaded archery site at the Trocadéro. Several stands emptied little by little before the end of the session.
In theory, everything was planned. Anne Descamps explained this in response to a question from FrancsJeux : " The outdoor sites were designed to anticipate the effects of heat, with shaded areas and water refill points. » Cool. The OCOG spokesperson also clarified that, extremely rare at the Olympic Games, spectators were allowed to bring their own water bottle to the competition sites.
Foresighted, the organizing committee also advises spectators to bring a metal flask or a plastic bottle, without exceeding a capacity of 75 cl. It specifies that tubes of sunscreen, parasols or folding umbrellas, and misters, are also authorized on the sites.
But in practice, the reality turns out to be a little different. On the Concorde site, where several urban sports are gathered, there were many spectators on Monday July 29 looking for a corner of shade. In vain.
