Paris
CNN
—
The 2024 Summer Olympic Games formally get underway on Friday with an incredibly unique Opening Ceremony aimed at putting one of the world’s most famous cities on display.
Paris won’t just be the host city of this year’s Summer Games, it’s likely to be a main character. Races will take place in its streets and in the river that makes up its heart and soul, and millions from around the world are making their way to France to take part in the quadrennial festivities.
Here are five things to expect from the host city as the games get underway.
A background for the Games unlike any other
One hundred years after the Olympics were last in Paris, the City of Light is poised to show off its world-famous sights.
Perhaps the most iconic image already making the rounds on social media is the beach volleyball court located in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. The 137-year-old landmark looms over the court, enjoying its free ticket to watch the matches below.
But other classic Paris locations will be worked into the competitions as well.
The Place de la Concorde in central Paris will play host to multiple events, including skateboarding and 3×3 basketball, as one of the city’s largest squares turns into an Olympic venue. The Trocadero will be the final stop of Friday’s Opening Ceremony, in which athletes will disembark boats that float down the Seine (we’ll have more to say on that in a moment). Versailles will host equestrian competitions on the grounds that were once walked by the very top of French society.
And Pont Alexandre III, the beautiful bridge that crosses the Seine, will be the start and finish line of multiple events that take place throughout the city.
Paris is one of the world’s most beautiful locations, its architecture known worldwide. Those scenes and sights will make for some of the most distinct Olympic imagery in recent decades.
The return of fans in earnest
Let’s face it: The last couple Olympics have been weird.
The 2020 Summer Games were actually held in 2021 in Tokyo, playing out in front of virtually no fans amid lockdowns from the Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions still in place throughout the world.
The 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China were held as that country still pursued its zero-Covid strategy, dramatically limiting the number of foreigners who could get into the country to cheer on their nations’ athletes. While Chinese spectators were allowed, masks were still commonplace and noise was limited in order to comply with Covid-19 restrictions.
But as the world has moved on from the pandemic, and the Games moved to one of the most iconic travel locations in the world, fans are expected back in their millions.
The Games will be loud with nearly 9 million tickets having been sold for Olympic events as of earlier this month. Expect a celebratory atmosphere as Olympians are once again able to be cheered on by spectators from around the world, some of whom have traveled thousands of miles to see them compete.
All of France gets its chance to show off
These are the Paris Olympics, but they’re not only being held in the country’s capital.
Nice, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes, Lyon, Chateauroux and even Tahiti will all get their chance to partake in the Olympic spirit by hosting competitions. The 2024 Summer Games were organized with a mind to put the entire French nation on display, including its more tropical territories.
The various competitions will bring in thousands of spectators for major sports, including soccer and basketball, to cities hours away from Paris.
It’s a boon for the local economies and also for the Olympic traveler who will get a chance to see the rest of France during the two weeks of competition.
A Games focused on sustainability
As part of their effort to make Paris 2024 the “most responsible and sustainable games in history,” organizers are building something that’s meant to last.
“This village was thought up as a neighborhood, a neighborhood that is going to have a life afterwards,” said Georgina Grenon, the Paris 2024 director of sustainability. “Paris 2024 is renting it for a few months.”
Instead of rooming in apartments tailor-made for them, athletes in the Olympic Village this summer will be living in what will become someone else’s home or workplace. Once the Paralympics have finished on September 8, the village — which contains 82 buildings — will be converted into office space for 6,000 workers and apartments to house another 6,000 people.
Organizers add that the Games is expected to run on 100% renewable energy.
The village itself will house about 3,000 apartments containing a total of 14,250 beds made with recyclable materials similar to the ones used in Tokyo. The mattresses were manufactured with reused materials and their firmness can be adjusted by flipping them over. Stools were made with cardboard meaning they can be easily recycled after the Olympics.
Paris’ famed (or infamous, depending on the day’s temperature) lack of air conditioning will also be a focus of energy efficiency.
While the ground floor of some buildings in the Olympic Village are equipped with traditional air conditioning because they will be converted into shops after the Olympics, the athlete apartments will use geothermal cooling instead of air conditioning.
This system takes water cooled to 4 degrees Celsius (39 degrees Fahrenheit) from wells as deep as 70 meters (230 feet) underground at a nearby geothermal plant and transports them to pipes under the floors of each apartment.
That cold water should be able to cool the building by 6 to 10 degrees Celsius compared to the temperature outside, according to Laurent Michaud, the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Village director. While the system will be controlled at the building level, each apartment has a thermostat that allows them to lower or raise the temperature by 2 degrees Celsius in each unit. The system will also heat apartments in the winter.
The Seine
And then there’s the Seine, the city’s iconic river that splits Paris in two.
The river has been the focus of much scrutiny in the lead up to competition. Set to be the scene of the Opening Ceremonies and long-distance swimming competitions, the water quality and the current have both been closely watched.
City leaders – and a CNN correspondent – have been leaping into the river to prove that they believe it’s safe to swim in ahead of competition.
Triathlon events are due to start at the city’s Alexandre III Bridge later this month, but official testing by the city has shown E. coli bacteria levels have been above acceptable levels on the majority of days between June 3 and July 2, which would potentially expose athletes to serious health risks.
Despite a 1.4 billion Euro ($1.5 billion) clean-up plan for the Seine, where swimming has been illegal for more than 100 years due to pollution levels, concerns remain over the river’s suitability for swimming events.
The Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics is set to take place on the Seine on July 26 if currents are not too strong, and Paris 2024 shares the view that sunshine and higher temperatures have brought about a significant improvement in water quality, CNN previously reported.
But, keep an eye on the weather: A recent rehearsal on June 24 was cancelled due to strong water flows caused by heavy rainfall. Another one could cause a last-minute scramble to ensure an extremely unique Opening Ceremony goes off as planned.
