No plan B nor plan C: the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will be on the Seine River

The opening ceremony of the next Olympic Games will be the first in history to be held outdoors, security is one of the issues that the Paris 2024 organization is working on and there was speculation on several occasions about a possible change of scenery, even mentioned by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.

However, Tony Estanguet, president of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, confirmed that the parade of delegations will take place on July 26 as planned on the Seine River and ruled out considering other alternatives.

“Today, with Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the ceremonies, we are working on an opening ceremony on the Seine. The teams don’t work anywhere else,” said Estanguet, in an interview with France Inter.

Macron, on December 20 and in dialogue with France 5, referred to a “plan B” and even mentioned a “plan C” in case of “a potential threat” or if there is “an increase in international or regional tensions or a series of attacks. Along the same path, Oudéa-Castéra, Minister of Sports, also went down the same path, declaring on RTL that “if we ever find ourselves in an extreme scenario, with repeated terrorist attacks on our soil, we obviously have to have an alternative. The French expect it from us.”

When asked about these expressions, Estanguet stated that “a whole series of adaptation measures will be evaluated depending on a security risk” as well as in the case of “meteorological risk or a technological incident, cyberattacks”. However, he reiterated that today they are only working on the ceremony on the Seine River, where half a million spectators are expected.

“Security is the basis for the success of the Games,” said Estanguet and acknowledged the difficulties of having all private security (estimated to be close to 20,000) to cover all events: “We have already secured 70% of the needs.” In addition, the triple Olympic champion in canoe slalom admitted that another challenge is to ensure transportation to the different stages and said that beyond “there are still issues to be resolved”, France will be ready to host the Olympic Games.

The other challenge in the Seine River and the “dip” promised by the mayor of Paris

In addition to the opening ceremony, the emblematic Seine River will be the protagonist of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as it is the scene of the open water and triathlon competitions.

After the doubts that were raised about whether it will be able to swim because of the quality of the water (last year some competitions that were going to be held as a test were suspended), the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, challenges: “In July I will bathe in the Seine”.

“Everyone said it was impossible and we did it,” Hidalgo said in the first speech of the year to the councilors and recalled that 30 years ago, Jacques Chirac, who was the mayor of Paris and later became president of France, promised the same thing but failed to deliver.