Insanely brave France wants to offer the summer games of all time. As the h-moment approaches, the mood of Parisians has changed from suspicious to confident, writes Annastiina Heikkilä.
Annastiina HeikkiläFrench journalist
Paris Olympics on channels 26.7.–11.8. Go to the competition website here. You can find the entire program of the games here.
PARIS. The atmosphere in Paris during the opening of the Olympic Games is expectant and somewhat strange. The last grandstand structures have risen along the Seine River, and helicopters buzzing in the sky have replaced the noise of car traffic.
The city center is particularly deserted, as a large part of the streets is isolated behind metal fences. It feels like all of Paris is suddenly just metal fences: 44,000 of them have been brought to the streets of the city in the last few days.
Under normal circumstances, this kind of confusion would make Parisians irritable, but now there are smiles on the streets. The mood of the French has changed from skepticism to confidence as the Games approach.
The townspeople I talked to believe that the opening of the Olympic Games will be the greatest celebration of the millennium. “Crazy, but wonderful. France is really going to serve its best,” summed up the Parisian woman who cycled Seine.
France has been accused of delusions of grandeur
President Emmanuel Macron confirmed on Tuesday evening that backup plans for the opening have been abandoned. The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics will therefore be carried out exactly as it was originally planned. It means the most spectacular spectacle of all time: more than ten thousand athletes travel in hundreds of ships through the darkening Paris.
France has been accused of delusions of grandeur when it has decided to build the Olympic venues in the middle of the city and hold the opening ceremony in an open space on the Seine River.
On the other hand – what would the Olympics be without courage, creativity and madness? France wants to show what it is capable of and at the same time take advantage of its great cultural history.
The goal is also to present technologically advanced France, as the Paris Olympics aim to be clearly more climate-friendly than previous games. Complexes that will later remain empty are not built outside the city, but what is already there is utilized.
It is hoped that the Paris Olympics will unite divided France
France has its entire reputation at stake in the Games, and that is why especially guaranteeing safety is so important. The world political situation is tight, which can be seen, for example, in the enormous security measures of the Israeli delegation.
The participation of Israeli athletes in the Olympics has also attracted criticism, to which President Macron has responded by stating that France does not want to do politics at the Games.
Politics or not: the games are a place on the screen for President Macron himself. There has been turmoil in France in recent months, when early parliamentary elections were organized in the country as a result of the far-right’s victory in the EU elections. France still doesn’t have a new prime minister, and Macron reportedly doesn’t plan to appoint one before the end of the Olympics.
The news footage of the Paris Olympics will go down in history and help define Macron’s political legacy. The price tag of the Olympics and the expectations for the Games are high, and now they must be redeemed.
The hope is that the Summer Games will unite divided France – and for that matter the whole world. We also hope that they will be an inspiration and a trend setter.
If the cleaning of the Seine, which has been attempted since the 1990s, finally succeeded, despite record heavy rains, then what else would be possible together?
Above all, however, the Paris Olympics are a field for making unforgettable memories. Remember when the Olympic flame arrived on the Seine? We will talk about it later in all the domes in Paris.