Paris 2024, my favourite Games?

The Paris 2024 Games are now officially over, following the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games on Sunday 8 September at the Stade de France. And the least we can say is that, once again, the magic of the Games has worked... and how! What memorable Games, in so many ways!

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On a professional level, my sixth Olympic Games and my third Paralympic Games gave me the opportunity to explore a new perspective on Games organisation, that of the host country. Working in the Ceremonial Protocol Department of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) gave me a broader perspective of the huge (and important) contribution and mobilisation of government services... from the many security arrangements, to transport services and airport operations, not forgetting, of course, diplomacy and international relations (and the vital coordination between the latter, in support of the Organising Committee's efforts to ensure that the Games run smoothly - let's highlight the important contribution of the Interministerial Delegation for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (DIJOP) here, which worked to coordinate the action of the many government departments involved). A huge thank you to the MEAE, and in particular to Paul Furia, Will Braillon and William Fiadjoe , for offering me this first work experience in France. As a Canadian, working for the Ceremonial Protocol of the French Republic has been the honour of a lifetime. This experience will remain engraved in my memory forever. Alongside Léna Tchakerian , as the people responsible for monitoring the delegations of Heads of State and Government, I learnt an enormous amount about the protocol operations of the Republic and the Quai d'Orsay, its specificities in the context of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the International Dignitaries Program of the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee. The devil is in the detail is an expression that has taken on its full meaning over the last few months, in preparation for the arrival of the Heads of State and Government at the Games, requiring very active and precise communication between our teams at the Protocol Coordination Centre, the liaison officers, headed by Elodie Léogane and Afifa Saltani , and the arrivals and departures teams, headed by Alexandre PETITEAU and Sidonie Dequenne .

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For more than five months, the MEAE's Olympic and Paralympic unit had the privilege of working at the heart of the Games' reactor, at Pulse, the name of the Organising Committee's headquarters in Saint-Denis. We spent five months working with the Paris protocol team in the Protocol Coordination Centre, in a special MEAE-P24 joint venture. A veritable anthill in which we prepared and coordinated the numerous visits of international dignitaries to French soil, in close (and daily) collaboration with the diplomatic missions accredited in France - with the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony as the high point, when we welcomed nearly 100 Heads of State and Government for this extraordinary ceremony. To welcome all these delegations, we obviously needed reinforcements; for the occasion, more than 20 young graduates joined the ranks of the team for their very first professional experience at the Games. A huge thank you to these teammates for their dedication and professionalism over the summer - I hope, for my part, to have succeeded in passing on to you a little of my passion for the Games and the Movement; I hope to cross your path again at future editions...

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Working at Pulse has been an immense privilege. Firstly, simply because of the beauty of the building (by far my most beautiful office EVER!!!, I still pinch myself every day when I walk through this atrium of wood and lights). What a motivating and stimulating work environment! I was also able to fully experience the spirit of the Games (that spirit of camaraderie that makes them so unique) by renewing acquaintances with long-standing friends from the “4 corners of the world”, known from other Games, working for Paris 2024 or on pre-Games preparation visits to Paris (IOC, NOCs, IFs, sponsors, etc.), and forging new friendships, particularly with colleagues at the Protocol Coordination Centre. We were also able to witness the visits of the legendary Carl Lewis, who came to motivate the troops in May, and the Olympic flame, on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Games on 25 July; two great moments for the employees dedicated to delivering the best Games possible!

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Were the Paris Games the best Games ever? That's the classic million-dollar question that's always asked at the end of the Games. Attempting to answer this question in the aftermath of the Games is a highly perilous exercise. However, the least we can say is that Paris has won its bet and that the sceptics will have been confounded. The challenge was huge; organising the Games in the heart of the city, in such a concentrated area, had never been attempted before. With all the security and logistical implications that this would entail, especially in the Paris Centre area, it was a high-flying, high-difficulty plunge. In Quebec, we say “se casser le bécyk”... which essentially means ‘to complicate the task’... I hardly see how we could have broken their “bécyk” more with this concept of Games in the heart of the city. It was a crazy vision, but it was a clear and beautiful vision. Despite the pitfalls, they kept their focus because it was worth the effort. Because sometimes you have to dream the wildest dreams in life! As the saying goes, “To conquer without peril is to triumph without glory”. Paris 2024's slogan has always been “breaking the codes”. The codes have been broken and the perils have been conquered! You can now savour your triumph! I don't know if the Paris Games were the best, but of my six editions of the Olympic Games (and 3rd Paralympic Games), I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the Paris Games are now my favourites (many of you have been asking me this question over the last few weeks... so here it is, I'm giving you my first answer in world premiere fashion ?? ). And why is that? For several reasons...

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First and foremost: the competition venues! “Trop stylés”, as they say so well in France! Here, everything is interconnected, and that's the DNA of the vision for these Games: the use of existing venues (95% of existing and temporary competition venues - the highest percentage in the history of the Games, which is in line with Agenda 2020, the IOC's wide-ranging reform programme - 65% of venues were already in place for the Tokyo 2020 Games) at the very heart of this city with its extraordinary architectural heritage, concentrated along the mythical Seine. Just inside a few kilometres along the river: the Place de la Concorde and its urban park (3x3 basketball, breaking, BMX, skateboarding), the Grand Palais (fencing, taekwondo), the Pont Alexandre III (road cycling, marathon swimming, triathlon), the Invalides (archery), the Trocadéro (opening ceremony, cycling and athletics finish line + Champions’ Park)... not forgetting the incredible Eiffel Tower Stadium (used for beach volleyball and recycled for the blind football competition during the Paras), which is likely to go down in history as the greatest competition venue in the history of the Games (if the debate isn't already closed - at least it is for me). Never before has a host city brought its own historical legacy to the front of the stage through its competition venues. Never have the venues been so integral to the story of the Games themselves, with their own personality and identity. We went to the Grand Palais to see the fencing and taekwondo; to Versailles to see the equestrian competitions; to the Eiffel Tower Stadium to see the beach volleyball. Simply the most beautiful postcard a city could have offered itself, the best promotional campaign on the planet. Bravo for the vision, the audacity, the ambition - simply brilliant!

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How does the “magic of the Games” come to be? That's the other million-dollar question! It's essentially a build-up. In Paris, the build-up began with the opening ceremony for the ages on the Seine; four memorable hours culminating in the legendary performance by our “Céline nationale” IN.THE.EIFFEL.TOWER #MICDROPMOMENT! The tone was set. After that, it was down to the host national team to “knock it out of the park” on the field of play. And the least we can say is that Les Bleus responded with the muzzle of their guns... from the very first weekend: gold for the men's rugby 7 team at the Stade de France, the first of King Léon's 4 conquests in the swimming pool, and the moving triumph of Pauline Ferrand Prévot in mountain biking. The medals ball was on, the French public had been won over and showed the very best of sportsmanship towards their athletes (Chers Cousins, you have INCREDIBLE fans in and outside the stadiums!!!). Add to the recipe a poetic Olympic cauldron rising into the sky in the Jardin des Tuileries that attracted thousands of people every day, the Champions’ Park that welcomed 280,000 spectators free of charge to the Trocadéro to celebrate the Olympians after their performances, 45,000 volunteers on fire who showed the best that France had to offer the world, representatives of the forces of law and order, who have shown incredible professionalism throughout the summer, dancing with the public; a mascot who was once criticized for a thousand and one (wrong) reasons and who has finally won over the hearts of young and old alike; two gold medals in two days for Teddy Riner, the greatest judoka in history with 5 titles and 7 Olympic medals, and the list goes on…

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Prior to the Games, there had been criticism that ticket prices were too high (although one million tickets were sold for 24 Euros, and almost half of the 10 million tickets available were sold for 50 Euros or less during the Olympic Games, and half of the 2.8 tickets on sale for the Paralympic Games were for less than 25 Euros. In total, Paris 2024 established a new record at the Games, with total ticket sales of 12 million -- 9.5 for the Olympic period and 2.5 for the Paralympic period -- surpassing the previous mark of 10.9 million tickets established in London). To which I replied: go and see the road events, which are free; believe me, the atmosphere will be incredible! One of the most memorable moments of the Games (and one whose setting also helped to make it even more magical) was undoubtedly the cycling road race, whose route made three loops through the narrow streets of the mythical Butte Montmartre, passing in particular in front of the Sacré Coeur Basilica. I was there 5 hours before the start of the men's race on Saturday, and already the fans were massing along the route, even cheering on the Paris 2024 volunteers and the ordinary cyclists who were using the route, as if they were Tour de France riders (I'll never forget the image of this little 8-year-old boy cycling up the hill alongside his father, to whom people were shouting “go, go, go, faster, faster, you can do it”). What a spirit, what an atmosphere... 5 hours before the race. Imagine during the race! Tens of thousands of fans on fire, on the pavements, on windowsills, perched in lampposts, hundreds of flags in the colours of the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Canada, the United States and Germany covering the metal fences along the route... and torrents of applause as the cyclists passed by (both the first and the last). This section of the route was magical, this moment was magical. I was at the Athletics Stadium in London and Rio to see Usain Bolt win gold in the 100m, I was at BC Place when Sidney Crosby scored the Golden Goal at the Vancouver Games (the greatest moment in Canadian sporting history) ... and I can now say that I was in Montmartre that weekend to witness that moment. In Montmartre, I didn't see Usain Bolt or Sydney Crosby, but the emotion I felt was the same.

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And what about a Marathon for all on the eve of the Olympic closing ceremony? It makes you wonder why nobody thought of it before. What an excellent idea to offer the public the chance to run the marathon course, during the Games, between the men's and women's marathon. It must have been an incredible feeling for the 20,024 women and 20,024 men (from 127 countries) who took part, to run the same course as the fastest runners on the planet, and to be able to “put themselves in their shoes”, in the midst of a frenzied crowd lined up along the route. The images of the evening were simply incredible, what a great moment in sport and the democratisation of sport, a magical night for the runners and the thousands of spectators lining the course. A little bird tells me that this event will set an example and that the marathon for all will soon become a tradition at the Games. Once again, Paris 2024 has broken the mould and made its Games even more beautiful. It was the icing on the Olympic cake!

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After a transitional break of a few weeks, we returned to the fray with the Paralympic Games. Once again, many sceptics expected the mayonnaise not to take. Que nenni! Once again, the opening ceremony, a masterly spectacle on the majestic Place de la Concorde, set the tone. After that, it was time to marvel! Tons of French medals, French fans 1000% behind their favourites, stadiums filled with crazy energy, dazzling performances and the birth of new heroes. After Marchand, Riner and McIntosh at the Olympics, we now have Jincheng Guo (4 gold medals - swimming), Catherine Debrunner (5 gold medals - athletics) and Aurélie Aubert (1 gold medal - boccia, but what a magnificent medal!!! the very first French Paralympic medal in the discipline). And the Eiffel Tower Stadium for blind football (my favourite Paralympic sport, which deserved the most beautiful stadium in the world), and the cauldron at the Tuileries, and the tireless Phryge at all the venues, and Club France, which welcomed hundreds of thousands of jubilant fans well into the night of the closing ceremony, and the list goes on.

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Yes, really, this summer in Paris, everything fell into place as if everything had to fall into place; the alignment of the planets was perfect!

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That was the “rational” part explaining the magic of the Games. But this magic is obviously not just rational. There's that invisible, imperceptible “French touch je ne sais quoi” that comes into play, if the ingredients are in place... and they were this summer in Paris. You can't see it, you can't understand it, you can't explain it... but you feel it, you know it's there, that's all. It's a wave, a tsunami, it's bigger and stronger than us... we just have to let ourselves be carried away and enjoy the moment. And that, in my opinion, is the greatest strength of the Olympic Movement. That intangible spark that can't be measured in columns of figures in an Excel spreadsheet, that moment in time when humanity gathers in the same place and runs on the same positive energy, that moment when millions of people from all over the planet (in the stadium or in front of their screens) all push together for a Swedish athlete to manage to clear the bar at 6.24m, for a 204cm French giant to become the most successful judoka in the history of the Games in front of his home crowd, for a 17-year-old Indian para-archer, shooting with her feet, to break the world record... even if they didn't know these athletes when they watched them give their best.

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These moments, however short they may be, when we celebrate surpassing ourselves and persevering, what is most beautiful in us, our collective ability to unite and celebrate our differences, humanity needs them more than ever.

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We all have this light within us, even if it sometimes seems buried in our daily worries. Sometimes we just need a spark to rekindle our inner flame. The Olympic and Paralympic Movement is not perfect, the organisation of the Games in one city will not solve all the problems within that city, medals and world records will not put an end to the injustices of our world (no one within the Movement would claim otherwise). Yes, organising the biggest event is complicated and requires a lot of investment. You can put these major events on trial and judge their relevance. But, until proven otherwise, the closing ceremony of the Olympic and Paralympic Games is still the only occasion when the whole of humanity, through its athletes, enters a stadium at the same time, hand in hand, with national flags parading side by side. The immense success of the Paris 2024 Games will have demonstrated, once again, the importance of this major global event. After the COVID crisis, which took the essence out of the Tokyo and Beijing Games, the Paris Games came at just the right time for the Movement, which needed this breath of fresh air.

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I often talk about the legacy of the Games ... and more particularly that of the Paris Games, about which I still intend to write a book (is there a publisher in the room?). It's obviously less sexy to talk about the legacy of the Games than about Léon Marchand's 4 gold medals, I agree. However, if we want this great global event to continue to dazzle us, the post-Games issues must obviously be taken into account, as the IOC wishes through the Agenda 2020 reforms. Because organising the Olympic and Paralympic Games is more than just organising a sporting competition lasting a few weeks. It's about shaping a city, a region for the next 50-70 years. Here too, Paris will have succeeded in its gamble, because it included these post-Games issues from the outset. Paris 2024 is probably the Organising Committee that has given the most thought to these post-Games issues and taken strong action in this direction. As far as I am concerned, there is no doubt that there will be a pre-Paris 2024 and a post-Paris 2024 period, and that the Paris model will set an example. (1) The use of 95% of existing competition venues (the construction of stadiums being a major source of greenhouse gas emissions - a decisive factor in making Paris 2024 the most eco-responsible Games in history), (2) the major public investments in Seine-Saint-Denis (85% of the public investments made by SOLIDEO - the company responsible for delivering the Olympic facilities - were made in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, including the construction of the Athletes' Village and the Media Village), (3) the colossal project to make the Seine navigable again for local residents... to highlight just a few of the legacy measures that go beyond the sporting aspects of the Paris 2024 Games (once again, is the balance sheet perfect? No. Once again, no one is claiming otherwise. But I think it's important to highlight the organisation's sincere efforts on these issues). I could go on and on about this subject, but the rest is for another platform ??...

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Chers Cousins fran?ais and partners in this extraordinary adventure, I want you to take full measure of the titanic challenge you have just overcome. In the current political context, which is very specific in the country's history, at a time when France needed a little sweetness and joy, you have succeeded in brightening people's spirits, bringing your colleagues together behind your beautiful tricolour flag, bringing joy to athletes and visitors from all over the world... showing the world that “Paris est une fête”, that Paris knows how to welcome the world, that Paris is the most beautiful. Chers Cousins, dear colleagues, we told you that you would break your teeth, that you would fail, that it wasn't possible. But, like Olympic and Paralympic athletes who believe in their dreams, you have succeeded in your difficult, daring and crazy gamble - you have confounded the sceptics, so be proud of your huge success!

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‘Life is not about waiting for storms to pass, it's about learning how to dance in the rain’ - Seneca

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Paris 2024 - Comité d'organisation des Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques de 2024 International Paralympic Committee International Olympic Committee – IOC Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères Ministère des Sports, de la Jeunesse et de la Vie associative Délégation interministérielle aux Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques (DIJOP)

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