How far away the hustle and bustle of Lima seems, on September 13, 2017, when the International Olympic Committee finally entrusted Paris, to France, with the organization of the 2024 Games. Six years already. At the time, the big boss of the Olympic Games Tony Estanguet did not yet have white hair, the athletes’ village, in Seine-Saint-Denis, was only a huge wasteland, the opening ceremony on the Seine as a sweet dream. A century that France has been waiting to organize the largest sporting event in the world, one which brings together nearly 10,500 athletes with for the first time as many men as women, from 204 nations (Guatemala and Russia suspended, certain nationals will be able to participate under a neutral banner) to compete in 32 sports, spread over 35 sites. In 206 days, we’ll finally be there.
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“We are planning with desire, with enthusiasm, we have been working on the organization of this event for nine years now,” underlines Tony Estanguet, who in 2014 joined Bernard Lapasset, charged by the government at the time with lay solid foundations. “From the start, we had a strong ambition which never deviated, that of organizing French-style Games, by innovating and showing the best of our country,” continues the president of the Organizing Committee (Cojo) . We have this responsibility to be as daring as possible. »
