Organizing the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on the Seine is anything but a long, quiet river! After the terrorist threat which led the authorities to significantly reduce spectator numbers, it is the turn of natural elements to play spoilsport. According to our information, the rehearsal, scheduled for April 8, of a convoy of boats which were to parade on the evening of July 26 carrying delegations of athletes, was canceled due to floods affecting the river for several weeks .
This test, which only concerns some of the boats, those in “group 2”, has been postponed to May 27. “The height of the level of the Seine prevents the largest boats from passing at normal speed under the bridges,” we decipher within a Parisian river tourism company, certain models of which are due to parade next summer. The current flow of the river also explains this postponement. “It is too strong and too different from the conditions we will have next summer. We don’t sail in the same way depending on the current,” says another cruise passenger.
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The decision was made several weeks ago. “The postponement of the test has no impact on the organization of the opening ceremony. The aim is to carry out this test in sailing conditions as close as possible to those of July,” explains the organizing committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop).
180 boats mobilized on D-Day
A first technical test in the presence of around forty boats from “group 1” to receive athletes from all over the world took place last July in the early morning on the Seine, on the route of the opening ceremony between the bridge 'Austerlitz and the Pont d'Iéna. The conductors of this global event which will be watched by more than a billion viewers wanted to collect valuable information on the duration of the parade, the maneuvers but also the video recordings.
No less than 180 boats between 8 m and 85 m long will be mobilized on the big day. Half (94) will be reserved for welcoming sports delegations, the other half (86) devoted to security and technical teams. and repairs to possible faulty barges.