Today marks 100 days until the 2024 Olympics opens in Paris France on July 26 and the United States is expected to top the medals table for the fourth straight Summer Games. Amid mounting security concerns in France, the anticipation for the Games is palpable and the qualification period which began on June 22, 2022 will end on June 23, 2024. And after Tokyo 2020 which took place in 2021 without fans because of the Covid pandemic, spectators will fill the stands in Paris.
More than 250,000 new tickets for the Olympic Games went on sale this morning on the official ticketing website tickets.paris2024.org to kick off this final countdown. This is one of the last opportunities for spectators to secure their seats. Organisers said around 9 million of 10 million available tickets have been sold, with 63 percent of the buyers from France. The top 10-selling sports are: football, athletics, basketball, rugby sevens, volleyball, handball, beach volleyball, field hockey, tennis and water polo.
The Paris 2024 organisers is planning a “spectacular” ceremony for July 26, the first to be held outside a stadium. This unprecedented and ambitious plan will see athletes being transported along the river, right in the heart of Paris, in some 160 boats. It will be a 6 km procession, with the river, its bridges and the capital’s iconic monuments serving as the backdrop, which will end in front of the Trocadéro. However, in January the number of spectators allowed to attend the ceremony was cut from around 600,000 to around 300,000 and tourists won’t be allowed to watch it for free from the riverbanks after the French government scaled back their plans. France raised its security alert posture to the highest level on March 24 after a deadly attack at a Russian concert hall and the Islamic State group’s claim of responsibility.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently said other Opening Ceremony options would be considered if the security threat is deemed too high. “There are plan Bs and plan Cs, we are preparing them in parallel… We will analyse this in real time,” Macron told French media BFM-TV and RMC on Monday, a day before the Olympic flame will be lit at a ceremony in Olympia, Greece. The French President said one option could be to hold the ceremony in the Trocadero Square facing the Eiffel Tower, where the river route culminates. Another alternative is to move it to a stadium setting in the Stade de France, the national arena to the north of Paris that is due to host athletics events.
Tony Estanguet, the head of the Paris Games’ organising committee, has faith in the security measure that will be in place during the Games. “France has never deployed so many means for security,” he said. “I have faith that the security services in our country will make the Games safe.” France plans to deploy about 45,000 police and security forces, 20,000 private security personnel and around 15,000 military each day. The country has asked 46 countries to help provide more than 2,000 police officers and separately, the French Defence Ministry has asked foreign nations for “small numbers” of millitary personnel who could help with “very specific” tasks at the Games, including sniffer dog teams. Estanguet told BBC Sport “I would like to reassure that it’s non-negotiable. Security is the priority.”
He added: “It’s the biggest event that France has ever organised, and we want to showcase the best of France. So definitely we are determined to be ready. We are looking forward to welcoming the world in Paris.
“When I discussed this with [London 2012 chief] Seb Coe, he told me…in the last 100 days, there will be more criticism, more people worried. It’s exactly what is happening. My role is to remain calm, remain focused on what is very important to deliver.
“The venues are ready, the budget is balanced. We have very good ticket sales, the level of ambition is very high.”
According to the prediction of data specialist Gracenote, the United States and China are expected to finish 1-2 in the gold and the overall medal counts at the Paris Olympics. This forcast comprises results and statistics from key global and domestic sporting competitions since Tokyo 2020. The USA is expected to win 123 medals overall, including 39 golds, while China is projected to win 35 gold and 89 medals overall.
