It is a meeting that is both concrete and essential on the road to the Games, but in no way a “life-size dress rehearsal”. Paris 2024 unveiled, on Thursday April 6, its calendar of sports, logistical and technological tests between now and the Olympic Games (July 26 to August 11) and Paralympic Games (August 28 to September 8).
This test program is not a taste of the Games, refuted the organizers of the event from the outset. “The fireworks will take place in the summer of 2024, not this summer, insists Edouard Donnelly, executive director of operations for Paris 2024. In terms of decorum, number of spectators, we will be far from what will happen during the Games. This has above all an aim of technical programming, human resources, sports. »
Where previous editions of the Games traditionally organized major sporting events for each sport and on each of the sites, Paris 2024 claims a “simplification, environmental and financial sobriety”, in consultation with the International Olympic Committee and international federations. Total budget for these “test events”: 20 million euros.
Baptism of fire in Marseille harbor
Marseille will get the ball rolling, from July 9 to 16, 2023, with an international sailing event on the marina, an event organized from A to Z by Paris 2024. “One of the challenges was to have international athletes test our competition area, limit the number of rounds [zones] race [passant de 6 à 4] and test their location”, explains Aurélie Merle, executive director of sports for Paris 2024. The Marseille event will also be an opportunity to test new competition formats, including kitesurfing – which is entering the Olympic program – as well as the safety of the plan. of water.
Among the other highlights of the summer of 2023, the holding in Paris of an international triathlon and paratriathlon test event (from August 17 to 20) near the Alexandre-III bridge, a link between the two shores de la Seine – where the open water events will also take place. An old sea serpent, swimming in the river has resurfaced since the Games were awarded to the capital. “We are extremely confident about the quality of the water, the latest readings are good, assures Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of sport, the Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the competition area, over the period of summer 2022 corresponding to that of the Games, we had 92% of the days when the water quality was satisfactory or excellent. »
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