Two years ago right around this time I was embarking on my first Summer Olympic experience.
The Tokyo Games, postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were a unique experience. We, as media members, were subject to regular COVID testing, there were no fans in the stands and masks were required everywhere we went. After two previous Winter Olympics, the heat of the summer was a new experience for me as well.
The next winter, the Beijing Winter Olympics experience was much the same, with even more COVID testing, limited fans in the stands and masks required everywhere.
For those reasons, those Olympic experiences were definitely some of the most memorable things I have done in this job.
As this goes to press, we are one year out from the Paris Olympics, opening on July 26, 2024 in the French capital. In preparation for that, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach spoke to the media in a Zoom call last Tuesday afternoon.
“My expectations for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 are the expectations of millions around the globe,” Bach said in welcoming media members to the call. “We want to get together again after the pandemic.
“Paris 2024 will serve as a blueprint that will help shape future editions of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and inspire other major events,” Bach continued.
He went on to mention that the Paris Games will be the first Olympics and Paralympics to be planned and delivered in line with the reforms of the Olympic Agenda. This includes being the first ever Olympics with gender parity, with the IOC allocating the same number of quota to male and female athletes.
Paris 2024 organizers have also committed to 100 percent renewable energy in delivering the games and are using almost all existing venues.
“These will be urban games in the heart of Paris,” Bach said, touting the use of the River Seine for the floating opening ceremonies welcoming athletes to the city. “I have goosebumps already thinking about that.”
The Marathon Pour Tous, or Marathon For All, will give 40,000 runners the experience to run their race on the same day and same course that the Olympic runners will be running on. Champions Park will see athletes, medalists and fans celebrating the Olympic spirit together.
“The world will come together in Paris 2024 one year from now for a peaceful competition,” Bach stated. “We all will enjoy the rich culture of France and the warm hospitality of the sports-loving French people.
“At Paris 2024, we all will be inspired by the vision of our founder, Pierre de Coubertin, in his city, the city of light, Paris,” Bach added.
Most of the early portion of the question and answer session that followed focused on the inclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus.
“We are determined to do everything to accomplish our mission, which is uniting athletes from around the world in peaceful competition,” Bach said. “We are focused on our mission right now, building bridges not erecting more walls.”
No official decision has been made on how athletes from those two countries will be handled in Paris. In previous Olympics, athletes were allowed to compete, just not under their country’s flag, with the Olympic Anthem played when athletes from those countries won a gold medal.
“Our position is to not punish athletes for acts of their government,” Bach said. “We can’t discriminate against anyone just because of their passport.”
Recent social unrest in the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, which is slated to be a major hub for Olympic action, including the site of the only new venue, the Aquatics Center, was also brought up.
“These riots were not related to the Olympic Games in any respect,” Bach said. “We can feel great support of the French people for these Olympic Games and we’re confident that the Games can and will happen in a peaceful environment.
Paris and the rest of Europe is currently experiencing a heat wave and one question asked how the IOC was preparing in case of that happening again next summer.
“The Olympic Committee has plans and we’re contributing to this,” Bach said. “We have good experience with heat mitigation measures in Tokyo. The heat mitigation measures worked very well and they will be available in Paris next year.”
The Paris Olympics run from July 26 to Aug. 11, 2024.
My first day out of quarantine at the Tokyo Olympics started with a trip to see the triathlon. One year from today is the Opening Ceremony for the Paris Olympics.
No comments:
Post a Comment