dates, sites, transport… Everything you need to know on D-500

Security of an extraordinary opening ceremony, transport of millions of people, grumbling over ticket prices…: the race against time continues 500 days before the start of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, scheduled from Friday July 26 to Sunday August 11 in a year and a half. The challenge is accompanied by a commitment, that of fulfilling the specifications without betraying the promise of “popular” games that leave a “legacy”.

25 Olympic sites are listed for the 32 sports on the program (302 events in all), mostly concentrated in Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis. Department 93 will host athletics and 7-a-side rugby at Stade de Franceartistic swimming, diving and water polo at the Saint-Denis Aquatic CenterClimbing at Bourget and Boxing Villepinte. Rowing and canoeing will take place in Seine-et-Marne (77), at Vaires-sur-Marne.

Hauts-de-Seine (92) will host field hockey (Yves-du-Manoir stadium in doves), swimming and water polo (Arena de Nanterre). The Yvelines will be honored for equestrian sports, modern pentathlon (Château de Versailles), mountain biking (hill ofÉlancourt), BMX racing, track cycling and golf (Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines). Outside Île-de-France, Marseille will host the sailing events, Lille handball and basketball, Chateauroux dash Tahiti surf.

Parisian sites

There remain the “intra muros” Parisian sites: theArena La Chapelle for rhythmic gymnastics and badminton, Big palace for fencing and taekwondo, Concorde for 3×3 basketball, breakdancing, skateboarding and freestyle BMX, Bercy for basketball, trampoline and artistic gymnastics, theEsplanade des Invalides for archery, the Eiffel Tower for beach volleyball, Ephemeral Grand Palace for wrestling and judo.

There will be tennis and boxing at Roland-Garrosfrom football to Princes Park (but also in Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon, Nantes, Nice and Saint-Étienne), handball, table tennis, weightlifting and volleyball at the Parc des expositions de la Gate of Versailles. The triathlon will start at Pont Alexandre-IIIthe road cycling events in Jena Bridge. Discover the infographic of the sites below, then all the questions that arise 500 days from the event.

Security at the heart of the opening ceremony

For the first time in Olympic history, the opening ceremony will not take place in a closed enclosure, but on the Seine, with a parade of delegations on boats sailing at the foot of the Eiffel Tower and the Concorde. This very ambitious parade, much more complicated to secureadvance “cahin-caha” according to a government source, in particular on the management of the spectators.

On the 600,000 lucky, 100,000 will pay to be installed at the bottom of the river, the others will be able to admire the spectacle for free from the top of the banks of the Seine (with the establishment of a free ticket office to control the crowd on the site). This number could however be revised downwards, according to political sources, as well as the number of boats transporting the delegations, which would be reduced to a hundred.

Will it be necessary to resort to the army when private security companies, which are unable to recruit, are not rushing to respond to calls for tenders? “Too early to tell,” according to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. “All scenarios are on the table“said Etienne Thobois, general manager of the Paris Olympics Organizing Committee (Cojo).

Transport: many outstanding questions

Transport chaos during the Games: this is undoubtedly another of the nightmares of the State and the organizers. Will the extension of line 14, which is to serve the Olympic village, be completed? Will the Ile-de-France transport system, which has been dysfunctional for several months, be put back on track? Will the airports be able to handle the millions of visitors? The necessary adaptations to the mobility of people with disabilities will they be satisfactory? Will there be strikes, which many foreigners consider a French specialty?

The State has placed the subject at the top of the pile and the Court of Auditors recommends “extreme vigilance”. New boss of the RATP, former Prime Minister Jean Castex has the Olympics well in mind. Shortage of bus drivers and opening up to competition from buses by 2025 make the social climate complicated, against the backdrop of a political showdown between the government and the LR president of the Ile-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse, who manages a part of the transport involved. RATP plans to recruit 6,600 people, including 4,900 on a permanent basis.

Banknotes: a first phase criticized

Ticket prices higher than expected, cheap tickets quickly gone, obligation to compose packs with “small sports”,… The first phase of ticketing turned into “bad buzz”. The organizers repeat that fares are no more expensive than in London – difficult comparison due to inflation, different volumes and ticketing phases – but the grumbling has difficulty dying out. Many dissatisfied people thus mock the Olympics displayed as “popular” and “accessible”.

Where is the budget?

The budget of the organizing committee (96% of private origin) increased by 10% to 4.4 billion euros at the end of 2022. The State and the communities added 111 million euros. With Solideo, the Olympic works delivery company (another 4.4 billion including 1.711 in public money), the total budget is 8.8 billion euros. But not everything is included yet.

As for the “legacy”, notably promised to Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest department in France, it is under the surveillance of elected officials. “Once the flame is extinguished, it is not Anne Hidalgo, Emmanuel Macron and Tony Estanguet that the inhabitants will hold to account, it is me”, has the habit of saying Stéphane Trousssel (PS), the president on department.