The Olympic organizers assure that the extraordinary opening ceremony planned along the Seine River and the competition venues spread around Paris will be able to be secured.
PARIS
The final stages of construction work for the Olympics are underway in Paris. Almost 15 million race tourists are expected in the city next summer, who must be able to move from one place to another efficiently and safely.
The infrastructure required by the Olympics has already been built for ten years. For example, a competition village of more than 50 hectares is rising north of Paris, and a new ring track is being built around the city.
However, entrepreneurs working near the competition venues are on a wait-and-see attitude. Shift manager at Le Solferino brasserie near Concorde square Sarah in Maryland says that the traffic arrangement for the Olympics has not yet been announced, and therefore he has not dared to hire additional labor.
– We have not yet received instructions from the police. It all depends on whether or not the nearby metro station is closed for the Olympics. So the summer can go really well or really badly, Marylonda laughs.
Race enthusiasm and fear of traffic jams
In any case, there will be crowds and traffic jams. Many ordinary Parisians are planning to leave the city for the Games
– The Olympics are guaranteed to be spectacular when competition venues appear all over Paris. However, I’m going to run away to my parents in the countryside and watch the games on TV, because everyday life here is probably chaotic during the games, Chadé Lauriano says.
He is planning to buy a ticket to the Paralympics, where the audience is smaller and the ticket prices are cheaper.
Many Parisians are also worried about how the control of the crowds by the police is going.
– The atmosphere in the world and in Paris is quite explosive. I hope everything goes well – or at least better than last year’s Champions League final in Paris, sports enthusiast Hugo Farisien says.
He reminds that thousands of fans got into a life-threatening crowd at that time when the security arrangements outside the stadium failed.
– However, I believe that the police have learned their lesson. The Olympics will certainly be memorable in a good way, Farisien adds.
The threat of terrorism overshadows the competition arrangements
The Paris Summer Olympics are exceptional in many ways. What is special is that the competitions are held in the historic center of the city and at iconic monuments. For example, beach volleyball is played at the Eiffel Tower, skateboarding and brake dancing at the Concorde Square, an archery range is built at the Invalides Square, and fencing and taekwondo competitions are held at the Grand Palais.
Open spaces require extensive security measures. They are also being tightened by the Gaza war that started in October, which has raised the threat of terrorism in France and especially in the capital, Paris.
Securing the opening of the Olympic Games is particularly challenging. The opening ceremony differs from those seen before, as it will be held along the Seine river instead of the stadium. 500,000 spectators and several dozen heads of state are expected.
Ambitious plans are kept
In France, it has been asked whether a backup plan should be developed for security reasons for the opening of the Olympics. However, the authorities have assured that the risks are under control.
President of the French Olympic Committee by Tony Estanguet according to the original plan for the opening, we intend to stick to it.
– Safety has been our number one priority since the beginning. The threats have been taken into account and we therefore have no need to change our plans due to recent events, Estanguet commented to the sports magazine L’Équipe.
He reminds that almost 35,000 police and gendarmes are protecting the opening of the Olympic Games. There are 20,000 police officers and thousands of security guards and orderlies monitoring the competition venues.
France has also passed a temporary law to enable AI-based mass surveillance during the Olympics. Thousands of fixed cameras and drones therefore record people’s movements at the competition venues, and artificial intelligence analyzes the observations they make. An alarm is immediately sent to the police for suspicious behavior or even for suitcases left alone.