During the summer of 2024, France will host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the most watched sporting event in the world.
Paris has been waiting for this for a century.
So, when three years ago in Lima, Peru, Tony Estanguet and the organizers finally won the cup, we could already see ourselves there.
But four years from the Games, the French are still docked.
Admittedly, the Covid postponed the Tokyo Olympics by a year, which should have served as a launching pad for those in Paris.
But now the organizers embark on a project review.
The choice of Tahiti for surfing, the prospect of offering an event to Lille shatters the principle of sportspeople accommodated within 30 minutes of competition sites.
The organizers see it as an opportunity to embark on the adventure of other territories.
Certainly, but it was not the initial contract that gave pride of place to Seine-Saint-Denis, one of the poorest departments in France.
On arrival, he will not lose that much (unless the district imagined for the media village never sees the light of day), but by dint of unraveling, we give the feeling that it is no longer priority.
Keeping the budget, an obsession
Elected officials regularly step up to recall the promises made.
To believe that the actors do not really get along.
Anne Hidalgo's opposition to Total's arrival in the sponsorship portfolio sounded like an alert.
The reality is that the organizing committee is torn between the IOC, the Olympic body anxious to restore the image of the Games, the State which will not accept a budget overrun and the elected officials, who refuse to see take the opportunity to revitalize their territory.
Each project review is an opportunity for some to sell a new site, which adds further confusion.
The economic crisis is not helping.
Although the organizing committee is entirely financed by the private sector, for many French people the Olympics are synonymous with waste.
But keeping the budget is precisely an obsession on this issue.
“Our commitment to the French is to organize sober Games that remain in the envelope.
It is an important element of membership and of the success of these Games and it is our collective responsibility to be up to this challenge, ”insists Estanguet, the boss of the Olympic Games in Paris.
Le Cojo has raised 500 million euros in partnership
According to a poll carried out last July, 84% of French people are in favor of the Games in France.
More than two-thirds believe that it will have a positive impact on economic activity, tourist attractiveness and the image of France abroad.
The organizing committee is working on it, setting up mechanisms around the environmental impact, access to markets for SMEs or the development of sports practice, the effects of which are not yet noticeable.
Little by little, he weaves his web, perhaps in a way a little too confidential.
Because, although it is not official, the Cojo has raised 500 million euros of partnership (about 45% of the objective), thanks to the signing during the confinement of three new partners.
“Four years before the Games, we are in the right tempo to achieve our objectives, estimates Estanguet.
The Games are above all a common project, serving the regions and their inhabitants.
It will remain so.
We need to show collective responsibility to achieve this.
And we will get there.
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