The city of Paris and the Olympic Games organisation are ready for the start of the competition in four days, although the opening ceremony will not be held until six days later, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Saturday.
Paris 2024 and the city of Paris “have kept their promise,” IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell said at a press conference following a meeting of the IOC’s executive board with French authorities and the Organising Committee.
With the final stretch leading up to the start of the Paris Olympic Games, “all venues are on schedule,” he added.
McConnell said that since the Olympic Village opened on Thursday, athletes “are arriving based on their competition schedule” and some have already been training for two days.
He said that athletes and delegations are making “fantastic” comments regarding the quality of the facilities and the atmosphere of the Olympic Village. “It’s an incredible environment for athletes,” he summed up.
The IOC’s director of sport also highlighted the “incredible excitement” that the Games have generated among the public, with 8.8 million tickets sold so far. “It’s something you can feel,” he said.
He also stressed the IOC’s belief that the opening ceremony next Friday, with a parade of nearly 200 boats on the Seine, will be “spectacular.”
The parade will pass by “amazing places” such as the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum and the Pont Alexandre III, once morest a “fantastic backdrop,” he said.
For IOC spokesman Mark Adams, the ceremony will be “amazing”, ideal for television, and “we are going to be amazed.”
McConnell also recalled that, for calendar reasons, the football and rugby 7-a-side competitions will begin on Wednesday 24, in what will be the Olympic debut of some of the Games’ large stadiums. “There are only four days left,” he warned.
During the meeting with the French authorities, issues such as security were discussed, although so far there have been no significant incidents.
Adams said computer systems were back to normal following Friday’s global outage, which caused “significant problems” that have now been fixed.
He also said that the IOC, in collaboration with its technological partners, has “a large number” of systems to protect its computer security once morest possible hacking attempts.
However, he acknowledged that “one cannot be complacent” and that “one can never be too prepared” in this field.
The IOC Executive Board also agreed today to increase the Olympic solidarity scholarship fund for 2025 by 10% to $650 million, a programme that allows athletes and coaches from less developed countries to live and train in top-level facilities.
Paris / EFE
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2024-07-21 07:41:59
