The 2024 Olympic Games will be held in Paris, France and will be much different from all other Olympic games. For the first time in history, the Olympic games will not be held in a stadium, but rather along the Seine River where France plans to hold the opening ceremony as well as other aspects of the games, such as the swimming events.
Crunching the numbers
France is advertising the games as not only being very safe and secure for spectators by clearing out migrant and homeless camps, but also environmentally friendly by encouraging clean energy sources. According to Paris 2024’s website, “Our goal is to halve the emissions arising in relation to the Games, while offsetting even more CO2 emissions than we will generate”. The games will be fully powered by clean electricity like wind and solar energy, and biogas that would replace diesel generators, which is projected to save 13,000 tons worth of carbon emissions. Paris is taking this opportunity to set a precedent of sustainability, social activism, and innovation for future games to follow.
Hosting the Olympics is no easy feat, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. While the Games increase tourism, it also drains resources and money for the hosting country, with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics costing over $15 billion, exceeding the projected limit by $8 billion.
Set-backs
The commitment to sustainability entails cleaning the Seine in preparation which has proven difficult. Swimming in the river has been banned since 1923 due to risk of water pollution. Paris is planning to work around this by implementing the Swimming Plan, a plan that involves placing an intricate system of underground pipes, pumps, and tanks to help block dangerous bacteria from entering the river. If all goes to plan, the river will not only be clean enough for the Olympic swimmers, but for public swimming as well.
In addition to the challenge of maintaining Paris’ public health, Paris 2024 has also had to find ways to uphold public safety. According to AP News, many Parisians have expressed concerns about the migrant camps around Paris. The camp expulsions are growing in frequency as preparations for the games hasten. The Paris Organizing Committee for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games (COJOP2024) held meetings with the aid groups and NGOs raising concerns over Paris’ homeless crisis and Paris 2024’s handling of it, stating that they strive to have this issue addressed as quickly as possible, promising to have the Games be an inclusive event.
Corruption
The French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA) has proven to be another setback for COJOP2024. According to Paris 2024 spokesperson Jonathon Firpo and COJOP2024 President Tony Estranguet, police have raided multiple offices and homes of those in charge of hosting the games, including businesses responsible for the construction of the Paris 2024 games, in an attempt to uncover any possible fraud or misuse of the billions of euros being poured into the organization and to investigate suspected illegal conflicts of interests and misuse of contract dealings and public funds. Despite all challenges, COJOP2024 is determined to make 2024 an incredible year for the Olympics and set a good example for games to follow.
Bidding
National Olympic committees (NOCs) are responsible for selecting cities within their nation to bid for hosting the games. Many are calling for reform of the bidding system due to the large sum of money being invested into their nation’s bids considering there is a chance that it could be for nothing. For instance, Tokyo spent $150 million bidding in 2016, but ultimately Rio de Janeiro hosted the Olympics that year. This has resulted in many cities, such as Toronto, withdrawing their bid for the 2024 Olympics. The costs of hosting outweigh the revenue generated from the games, and according to the Council on Foreign Relations, Beijing’s 2008 Summer Olympics generated $3.6 billion in revenue, compared with over $40 billion in costs. While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) introduced reforms in 2019 to curtail costs and lead to more open dialogue between NOCs and IOCs, recent hosts have nonetheless consistently lost an excess of $10 billion.
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