It’s the end of a historic summer. On Saturday, September 14, a “champions parade”, bringing together some 300 French Olympic and Paralympic athletes, will take place on the Champs-Elysées starting at 4 p.m., to honor all those who contributed to the success of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, including artisans and volunteers.
The initiative, promised at the beginning of August by Emmanuel Macron, will allow 70,000 people to enjoy a final great moment of communion, during a parade lasting two hours.
At the end of this parade, the medal-winning French athletes will be decorated with the Legion of Honor or the National Order of Merit by the President of the Republic, depending on the metal of their medal. Among the French stars, rugby sevens player Antoine Dupont, four-time gold swimmer Léon Marchand, fencer Manon Apithy-Brunet and triathlete Cassandre Beaugrand are expected. With his third individual gold medal, judoka Teddy Riner will also be elevated to the rank of Commander of the National Order of Merit. In total, 170 athletes are eligible for these awards, compared to around 150 in Tokyo in 2021.
A concert at Place de l’Etoile
After the decorations are awarded, a giant concert will take place on Place de l’Etoile, with some of the artists who have marked the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, such as Marc Cerrone, the singers Chris (Christine and the Queens) and Lucky Love, the duo Amadou and Mariam, and the mezzo-soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel, who sang the Marseillaise at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 26. France Télévisions will broadcast the parade and the concert.
To secure this final Olympic celebration, more than 4,000 police officers and gendarmes will be mobilized, according to the resigning Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. “Traffic in the Paris West zone” will be “very complicated tomorrow (Saturday),” warned the Paris police prefect, Laurent Nuñez, calling for people to avoid the area. Shops will be closed on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, he also said.
Once the soundtrack has been turned off, it will be time for the organizers to spend several weeks poring over the last invoices and accounts. The Olympic Games Organizing Committee (COJO) has also specified that the cost of this concert parade will be shared between the various stakeholders of the Games and the partners.