The Paris 2024 challenge and a New Year’s wish

As a matter of time zones and the specific weight of the city itself, it is common to consider Sydney as the first reference for a change of year.

It happened a few hours ago and it also happened, and in an outstanding way, on the occasion of the Millennium.

That time, as it is, the capital of New South Wales gave a special shine to New Year’s night, mainly to the extraordinary fireworks display with the Opera House and, above all, the Sydney Harbour Bridge as an exceptional setting.

Location on the map, urban prestige and scenographic distinction represent the ideal combination for images arriving from the south-east coast of Australia to invade news signals from the rest of the planet waiting, cup in hand, for the siren of the zero minute of the year to come.

A little less than a year after January 1, 2000, on the occasion of the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games that year, also in Sydney, obviously, the organizers took advantage of those same spaces as part of the so-called fireworks show that took place over the largest number of kilometers in history.

It was more than thirteen kilometers - that is the distance between the famous bridge and the Olympic Stadium - of one of the most lavish spectacles witnessed by the movement of the rings outside the tracks, pools and arenas.

The extra fantasy of the venture also consisted of turning the closing party into an incomparably massive celebration: in addition to the tens of thousands of spectators in the stands, many more would participate in the show by settling along the route of the fires.

In the middle of the afternoon, when the sports program scheduled for that closing Sunday had ended, local radio stations announced suggestions for those who would join the event. “It is essential that we avoid excesses and that the same thing does not happen as in the early morning of the Millennium when the police had to arrest a handful of citizens who over consumed alcohol,” they explained in a proclamation that today would be almost naive in terms of what they then considered a source of conflict or insecurity.

This story is certainly imprecise, although with some verisimilitude, it represents an excuse to synchronize these special dates with a new Olympic year.

Just as those in Sydney were for many reasons extraordinary games, just as the Australians taught us, for example, that the Olympic Stadium could become a gigantic 3D space in which the protagonists of the show could walk both on land and in the air, the challenges of the Parisian event are even more unique.

For now, someone should, sooner rather than later, settle the endless conflict over the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes: even at this time, week after week, it generates different news based on the different criteria that sports federations have on the subject.

The mere fact that the games return to one of the most attractive cities on the planet and that it is the return of the public to the stadiums after the incredible experience of empty grandstands and artificial ambient sound of Tokyo 2021, gives Paris 2024 an exceptional charm.

All the more reason to adjust criteria, to agree beyond the desire for power, to prioritize sports and athletes and to avoid anything avoidable taking away the shine of games that have everything to be fascinating.

If any of you still have your midnight drink on hand on the 31st, this is a good reason to toast again and make a wish.