Last week, the Paris 2024 organizing committee welcomed nearly 320 media representatives for the global press briefing. Important information on media operations during the Games was communicated to them on this occasion. Journalists also had the opportunity to visit some of the iconic sites where the Olympic and Paralympic Games events will take place next year.
The president of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, Tony Estanguet, welcomed the delegates with these words: with less than 12 months until the opening of the Games, “we are firmly convinced that our projects have the potential required to be incredible. Thanks to the test events, we have more and more the feeling that we can create something magical.”
Acknowledging the important contribution of the media to the success of the Games, he said: “Of course, we are delighted that millions of people will be able to watch the sports competitions on site. But we also know that most sports fans across the world will count on you. It is you who will recount the athletes’ journey with passion and expertise; it is you who will put your enthusiasm and talent to the service of these stories day after day, during the Games.”
Participants from the four corners of the world traveled to the French capital to attend the information session which was held from September 4 to 7, 2023; a few hundred others followed the meeting remotely. The Paris 2024 team took the opportunity to present their innovative plans to deliver a new era of Olympic and Paralympic Games. The delegates present thus had an overview of the progress made by Paris 2024; an update was also made on a certain number of subjects including the calendar of sports competitions, accommodation, accreditation, transport, press and photo operations.
Paris 2024
The concept retained by Paris 2024 for the sites is perfectly in line with the reform program launched as part of Olympic Agenda 2020. In order to reduce costs and the environmental footprint, Paris 2024 has limited construction work so that 95% of Paris 2024 sites are either existing infrastructure or temporary structures.
Participants in the global press briefing also had the opportunity to discover this concept de visu during a visit to existing sites, such as the Bercy Arena (which will host gymnastics, basketball and wheelchair basketball), the Vaires-sur-Marne nautical stadium (rowing, canoeing, para-rowing and para-canoeing), as well as the Vélodrome and the BMX stadium (track cycling, BMX racing and para-cycling).
In addition to Versailles (horse riding, modern pentathlon and para-horse riding (dressage)), emblematic places in downtown Paris which will serve as backdrops for the temporary sites were also on the program of the visit, notably the Grand Palais (fencing, taekwondo, fencing wheelchair and para-taekwondo), the Concorde (3-on-3 basketball, breaking, BMX freestyle, street skateboarding and skateboard park), the Alexandre-III bridge (triathlon, marathon swimming, road cycling and para-triathlon), the Invalides (athletics, road cycling, para-archery and para-athletics), and the Champ-de-Mars (with a temporary structure for judo, wrestling, para-judo and wheelchair rugby and the Eiffel Tower stadium for beach volleyball and five-a-side football).
Some 70 communications officers from National Olympic Committees and International Summer Sports Federations also benefited from a specific information session on media operations and participated in an interactive communications workshop hosted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) .
Global press briefings in Olympic Games host cities are a key part of the approach taken by the IOC and the Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committees to ensure that athletes’ performances receive the attention and coverage they deserve.
As a reminder, the Olympic Games will take place from July 26 to August 11, 2024 and will be followed by the Paralympic Games, which will take place from August 28 to September 8.
2023-09-13 15:44:19
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