(ATR) Paris 2024 leaders are using this week’s Ryder Cup to raise the profile of Olympic golf.
The world’s greatest golfers will contest the competition – the first Ryder Cup to be staged in France – from Friday to Sunday. It’s taking place at the Golf National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines course, venue for Olympic golf at the Paris Games.
French Olympic organizers say the Ryder Cup will allow them to deepen the collaboration between Paris 2024 and the sport’s key stakeholders, including the International Golf Federation and the French national federation.
On Tuesday, a Paris 2024 delegation led by CEO Etienne Thobois will visit the venue to meet Ryder Cup organisers and officials from both golf bodies.
Paris 2024 sports director Jean-Philippe Gatien and Anthony Piqueras, director of venues and infrastructure will also tour the facilities. They will discuss many issues common to both events, including infrastructure and overlay, athlete services, transport, accessibility, crowd management, media operations, logistics and security.
Tony Estanguet, president of Paris 2024, visits the course on Friday to follow the first tee-offs in the Ryder Cup 2018, which is expected to draw more than 160,000 spectators over the three days of competition.
Golf returned to the Olympic program in Rio 2016 after more than a century of absence; it was first staged at the Paris 1924 Games. At the Rio Olympics, current world number 2, England’s Justin Rose, and Henrik Stenson of Sweden won gold and silver respectively, and both are part of the Europe Ryder Cup team this week.
"The staging of the Ryder Cup at the venue chosen to host golf events in Paris 2024 offers an invaluable opportunity to refine our planning and get a better sense of what challenges are involved in hosting the tournament at the Golf National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines," said Estanguet.
"This huge event is also another opportunity to demonstrate France’s ‘savoir-faire’ in staging major international gatherings. And the Ryder Cup will allow us to lay the groundwork, together with the French Golf Federation, for the legacy that Paris 2024 can help to create with the Games."
Antony Scanlon, executive director of the International Golf Federation, said: "Following a successful Olympic golf competition at Rio 2016 and our confidence in a great golf event being held at Tokyo 2020, Paris 2024 also offers a fantastic opportunity to take our sport to another nation where it is growing in popularity and attracting new players and fans."
Reported by Mark Bisson
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