By Julien Pretot
PARIS, Dec 13 (Reuters) – Paris 2024 organisers are anticipating no less than 600,000 to attend the Summer Olympics opening ceremony along the Seine as athletes and delegations will sail along the river to kick off the Games.
Some 160 boats will set off on July 26 from the Pont d’Austerlitz for a six-kilometre journey to the Pont d’Iena in an occasion Tony Estanguet, the head of the organising committee, describes as “unique and spectacular”.
“We’ve been working on it for the past 12 months, it’s the result of a collective effort with the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and all authorities. It must be spectacular,” Estanguet told Reuters in an interview.
“It will likely be the first time people have free access to the opening ceremony, and never simply in a stadium. It is going to even be a popular event.”
While the decrease part of the banks can be submitted to ticketing, the upper components might be free entry.
“The Games is a novel, as soon as-in-a lifetime expertise. We would like people to feel it. (The boats) will go alongside the iconic landmarks of Paris – Notre Dame, the Orsay and Louvre museums, the Pont Neuf (Paris’s oldest bridge), the Pont Alexandre III, the Grand Palais, the Eiffel Tower,” Estanguet added.
Estanguet, a three-time canoeing Olympic champion who took half in four Summer Games, explained that the athletes would lead the river parade.
“I participated within the ceremony between Sydney (2000) and London (2012). Athletes get into the stadium within the second half, after the show,” he defined.
“We wished that this ceremony starts with the athletes parade. It’s a unbelievable manner to attach the people to the athletes. It is also better for them to sit down on a boat than stand in a stadium for hours.”
The challenge was approved by the IOC final month, marine fitting with president Thomas Bach saying all security necessities could be met.
“Today, I’m completely satisfied that the French authorities on all ranges have fastidiously thought of this opportunity and come to the conclusion this can occur, below the premise of all needed safety precautions,” Bach stated.
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“Security has been our prime priority because the very starting,” said Estanguet.
“Public authorities have been working on it and over 50 conferences have been organised to set all the potentialities, how we are able to share obligations with the national and native forces, and the private sector in terms of safety.”
While there isn’t any different option for the opening ceremony in case of a significant incident, Estanguet mentioned organisers could be versatile.
“We noticed in Tokyo that they had to adapt to the pandemic’s circumstances. It´s by no means the unique plan that´s finally delivered,” he mentioned.