BarcelonaThe Olympic athletes will pursue glory in the same setting where thousands of couples have declared their eternal love, where hundreds of women marched on Versailles demanding that the tyrannical monarchs have bread to eat, in spaces where during the French Revolution the Bordons lost their place or inside rooms where Picasso exhibited. The organisers of the Paris Games have wanted sport to fill the most emblematic corners of the city and have converted iconic spaces into sports arenas for a few days. In addition, they are thus betting on Games with a smaller carbon footprint and fewer pharaonic infrastructures that are not used later. In fact, only three new facilities have been built: the aquatic centre, a space for kayaking and a pavilion for badminton and gymnastics. The rest of the facilities, such as the Saint-Denis stadium, already existed. And, in other cases, removable stands are placed in spaces not initially intended for sport.
Paris is hoping to leave unforgettable images for posterity, such as beach volleyball matches at the foot of the Eiffel Tower or fencing inside the Grand Palais. Imitating a bit what Rome did in 1960, when gymnastics was held in the Roman baths of Caracalla, the city of lights wants sport to fill every corner of the city, so that in a few years no one will be able to say that unnecessary work was done, as has happened in cities such as Rio de Janeiro or Athens. Thus, 95% of the events will be held in venues that already existed or within the seven temporary structures.
The Eiffel Tower and the Camp de Mart
One of the most sold-out events was the beach volleyball tournament, with a temporary stadium built in the Camp de Mart, the gardens at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. A stadium that can hold 12,000 people in the same place where a guillotine stood in 1791, in times of blood and revolution. In addition to beach volleyball, football will be played here during the Paralympic Games. Those who climb the Eiffel Tower will be lucky enough to see from afar how medals are won, made from the 18,038 pieces of iron from the tower that have been replaced over time and preserved until now. Each medal will contain 18 grams of original iron from the tower. A little further on, still within the Camp de Mart, a temporary arena called the Camp de Mart Arena has been built for judo, wrestling and Paralympic rugby.
The Grand Palace
This iconic glass building, opened for the Paris World Fair in 1900, will be used for fencing, taekwondo and Paralympic wheelchair fencing. It will be difficult to concentrate on sport, as your gaze will be drawn to the huge glass dome supported by 6,000 tonnes of green-painted steel, the largest glass roof in the world at the time. The Grand Palais has hosted exhibitions, horse shows 100 years ago, concerts and has hosted works by artists such as Picasso. After more than two years of work to make it as good as new, after the games it will once again be used as a venue for cultural events. Paris City Hall, in fact, wants to show that sport and culture can be good friends, by holding exhibitions on sport at the Pompidou Centre or remodelling cultural spaces to take advantage of the Olympic Games.
The palace of Versailles
The equestrian events, including dressage, show jumping and cross-country competitions, will be held in the imposing gardens of the Palace of Versailles, one of King Louis XIV’s delusions of grandeur. The marathon will also pass by the palace, located some 20 km from the French capital. The heptathlon equestrian events will also be held here.
Doves
In the north-west of Paris lies one of the most historic stadiums in Europe. It was the venue for the 1924 Games, where legendary athletes such as the British Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell won medals, inspiring the film Fire cars. The Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir (formerly Colombes), built in 1907 and which has hosted matches of the Five Nations rugby tournament, football cup finals and concerts, will be the venue for the field hockey matches. Few stadiums have hosted two separate Games. One hundred years on, Colombes is still going strong.
Trocadero
The cycling races will start and finish on 3 and 4 August on the Place du Trocadéro, the iconic gardens on the other side of the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. Once again, the great iron lady will watch over everything, eternally. The Trocadéro area will be the final stage of the opening ceremony, as this year for the first time the inauguration will not take place in the stadium. Everything will take place on the Seine, with the delegations on boats. In addition, the Trocadéro will be the finale of the cycling events and will have a space where the athletes who have won medals will parade every evening.
Bicycles in Montmartre
From painters to singers, from nights that drag on in films like AmelieMontmartre is a hill that invites you to dream. One of the most iconic images of these Games may be seeing the best cyclists in the world climbing the cobbled Rue Lepic along the famous butte Montmartre. The entire cycling route, as well as the marathon route, will pay homage to iconic sites. However, marathoners will not be asked to climb Montmartre, as cyclists are.
The Invalides and Hotel de Ville
Right in front of the Hôtel National des Invalides, built under Louis XIV in 1670 to accommodate wounded war veterans, is the esplanade where the archery competitions will take place. The marathon will also finish here, in front of the building where Napoleon is buried. Incidentally, the organisers are also having a night marathon open to all citizens finish here on 10 August. If the finish line is at the Invalides, the marathon will start at the foot of the town hall, the Hôtel de Ville.
The Alexander III bridge
In the days leading up to the opening of the Games, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the waters of the Seine to demonstrate that it is safe to do so, as a lot of money has been invested in cleaning up a river that until recently was full of filth. The 10km open water swimming race will take place on a circuit in the Seine with the start and finish under the Pont Alexandre III, which will also be used by the cycling and triathlon events. The bridge, like the Grand Palais, is one of the legacies of the famous Universal Exhibition of 1900.
Place de la Concorde
The city’s largest square, which links the Camps Elisis to the Tuileries Garden and the Louvre, will be the scene of the most modern events, those aimed at connecting with young people: BMX freestyle, 3×3 basketball, skateboarding and break dancing, which will make its Olympic debut. Some spaces have a thousand lives. In the square where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had their throats cut in 1793, there will now be DJs playing music for break dancers, skateboarders, bicycles and the basketball tournament born in the streets with a single basket.
The new facilities
To make the Games green and ecological, making the most of the resources raised, France has opted to build only a few new facilities. One of them will be the Stade de Vaires-sur-Marne, for canoe slalom, canoe sprint and rowing, which opened in 2019. Not far from the Olympic Village, in the north of Paris, is the Arena Porte de La Chappelle, a new hall for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics. The other new centre is the aquatics centre, located 2 km from the Olympic Village, which will host a series of aquatic competitions during the Games, such as diving.
Roland Garros… without rackets?
One of the most famous tennis courts in the world will be used to watch the world’s best tennis players try to win gold on the clay of Roland Garros. Now, the second court of these facilities will be reused for a few days to house the boxing ring. For a few days, gloves will share space with rackets.
An Olympic stadium without inauguration
The athletics events will be held at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, built to host the 1998 World Cup and where the Champions League finals and world athletics championships have been held. This venue will be the main Olympic stadium for the Games, with no opening ceremony, but with rugby sevens matches in the central space.
A second life for old buildings
The Games have served to refurbish existing facilities, such as the Arena Paris Nord for boxing and pentathlon events, or across the city, the Arena Paris Sud, inaugurated in 1923. With a facelift, it will be used for handball, table tennis, volleyball and weightlifting. The Bercy Arena, built in 1984, will be used for artistic gymnastics, basketball and trampolining. The famous Parc des Princes, the stadium built in 1972 where PSG plays, will of course host football matches. Swimming and water polo events will be held at the La Defense swimming complex, a fairly new venue from 2017.
Outside Paris, from Marseille to Nantes
Team sports such as football, handball and rugby are helping to bring the Games to the whole of France. The Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Lille, where football is usually played, has been adapted for a few days to host basketball and handball matches, for example. The stadiums in Nice, Bordeaux, Nantes, Marseille, Lyon and Saint-Étienne will host men’s and women’s football matches.
Marseille will of course be the epicentre of sailing, with its base at Marina Olympique. Not far from Paris, shooting events will take place at the Chateauroux shooting centre. On the outskirts of the capital, there is the new Le Bourget sports climbing centre, the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines golf course and the Elancourt hill, the highest point in the Paris region, which will be used for mountain biking events. The Montigny-le-Bretonneux velodrome has been redeveloped for track cycling events and BMX races.
And surfing, in Tahiti
The French Republic is universal, as some French people say. Territories in America, Africa and Oceania are part of the Republic, the famous overseas territories. Former colonial possessions that did not become independent because they did not want to or were not allowed to. And it is precisely one overseas territory, Tahiti, in French Polynesia, that will host the surfing tournament. 15,000 km from Paris, the town of Teahupo’o will also be an Olympic venue. Having a venue this far away is nothing new, by the way. At the 1956 Melbourne Games, the equestrian events were held in Stockholm to avoid Australia’s strict quarantine laws.
2024-07-19 09:10:56
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