Paris 2024 leaders stress collaborative security effort for unprecedented opening ceremony and 100-year anniversary Games

It will be a creative, innovative and revolutionary opening ceremony as some 10,500 Olympians will be ferried by boats along a six-kilometer stretch of the Seine River, all culminating in front of the Trocadéro.

With the ceremony free and open to the public and more than 400,000 spectators expected to pack the riversides of the French capital, security measures, protocol and public safety will undoubtedly require a herculean effort. French Armed forces will perform special tasks.

Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet says that staging and securing the first-of-its-kind out of stadium ceremony and the 100-year anniversary Games will require a “coming together of everyone.”

“Over the past six months, Paris 2024 teams have moved forward in leaps and bounds within the ecosystem of public affairs with a very strong investment and involvement with the prefecture of police force, the Ministry of the Interior, the regional prefectures, and the city of Paris,” Estanguet told journalists at a Paris 2024 news conference earlier this week.

“We’ve moved forward a great deal on the structural principles of the opening ceremony for the Games – we updated the overall security and safety protocol that we run along with the state and integrated information, for example, the route of the Olympic flame.”

He noted that public and private security agencies will collaborate to meet all security requirements. Bidding waves are in progress for selection of the private security agencies. According to Estanguet, private agencies will secure 50-percent of security requirements.

Fielding a question from a journalist, Estanguet confirmed that French military forces will also be involve in security the Games.

“That is a question for the state, but we know that some missions will be handed out to the military, the Army – there will be precise missions where the Army will be asked to operate,” Estanguet said. “For example, the opening ceremony and securing the fleets of vessels are precise missions, where the military has special expertise,” he said, also noting that it will be coordinated between the French state and Ministry of Interior.

Security concerns for the Olympics and Paralympics will be thoroughly addressed when the Organising Committee hosts a two-day World Security Briefing, July 20-21.

“They will look at the situation of the safety and security for the Pairs 2024 Games and we’ll respond to any questions for strong coordination internationally between the public French players and international organizations,” Estanguet noted.

“Everything on Track” for Paris 2024

Estanguet and chief executive officer Etienne Thobois handled a flurry of wide-ranging questions, about the magnitude of the collaborative security effort and provided updates on progress, addressing media in person and virtually on Tuesday from the Paris 2024′s St. Denis headquarters. The press briefing comes just eight days prior to the one-year-to-go countdown to the Paris 2024 opening ceremony on July 26, 2024. The three-time French Olympic canoe slalom champion and Paris 2024 leader assures that “everything is on track” for the Games.

Additional topics covered by Estanguet and Thobois included yesterday’s rehearsal for the unprecedented out-of-stadium opening ceremony and last week’s sailing test event in Marseille, updates about the International Broadcast Center and Olympic Village, infrastructure and venues, sponsors, budgets, tickets, transportation, and Games philosophy and legacy.

“We completed a technical operational test for the opening ceremony with 32 athletes’ boat and 18-strong fleet of vessels to know and coordinate the timeline, space, sizes of vessels, and the filming to provide the best pictures,” Estanguet said, discussing the opening ceremony rehearsal, which was occurred on Monday.

He also mentioned positive reviews received about the recently completed first test event in Marseille, the Olympic sailing venue which is 775-kilometers south of the French capital.

“We have a quote from the sailing federation president and he was delighted to see how high quality the event, work and people involved were,” Estanguet said, referring to World Sailing president Quanhai Li. “This is very heartwarming for our teams.

Estanguet once again addressed security-related questions surrounding the opening test event.

“We had the Maritime Forces securing the waterways with exemplary cooperation – it was it fantastic to work with everyone and with the Navy teams securing everything,” Estanguet said, about the one-week competition in Marseille.

He also informed that NOC ‘Chef de Mission’ seminar was also just completed in Paris.

Estanguet noted that the International Broadcast Center has already been opened for the first wave of broadcast personnel on July 10th, the new Aquatics Center should be available in early 2024, and the Olympic Village is expected to completed in March and fully open to athlete delegations on July 18, 2024.

The Paris 2024 leader also answered a question about athlete safety considering the war in Ukraine and possibility that ‘neutral’ Russian and Ukrainian athletes could potentially be housed together at the village.

“These issues to do with safety and security of the athletes are an absolute priority and they will be dealt with by the international entities and by us,” Estanguet said.

He also noted the next World Press Briefing in Paris will be on September 20.

Ticket sales, sponsors, and volunteers

Estanguet admitted that there has been some backlash over high ticket prices, but noted that only 10% are 200 Euros or more and most are in the 50 Euros range. He emphasized that the opening ceremony, marathon, triathlon and long-distance swimming event, all being contested throughout Paris and the city suburbs are free.

“We want to make sure that these Games are accessible,” Estanguet said, referring to the Paris 2024 slogan “Games Wide Open.”

Estanguet provided a few significant statistics regarding the financial health of the Games. He said that 22 new sponsorship partners have been added in 2023 and the one billion Euros revenue goal has already been reached.

He said 86% of the Games are already being financed by the private sector and the target is to secure 92% by the end of 2023. Estanguet said a new premium partner is still being sought after.

Also, 6.8 million tickets have already been sold, also achieving a one-billion Euro sales total. Estanguet said that according to the IOC, it is an unprecedented amount for Olympic ticket sales. He said Paralympic ticketing will commence on October 9th.

He informed that 45,000 volunteers have been chosen, from 312,000 candidate applications. More volunteers could be added later this year.

Full Speed ahead to July 2024

Estanguet wrapped up the news conference with an upbeat and highly positive statement.

“We are one year away from making history,” said the 45-year-old French sports leader.

“We also want to assure that the Paralympic Games are just as spectacular than the Olympic Games,” noting that the same organizing team is handling both events.

“You’ll be fully able to feel the city of Paris vibrating and current indicators say that we are on the right track. We are not going to hold back and we are not going to shy away – this is of paramount importance.

“We have different resources available and within our ecosystems and collective solutions will be found to overcome challenges. We have to keep cool heads and be confident.

“We are convinced that these Games are an opportunity for our country and we want to show the best face of France.

“We are ready, we are on track, and our ambitions are very strong.”

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