IOC President gets a taste of Paris 2024 one year before the Olympic Games
With just over one year to go, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach today had a preview of what the world can expect from the Olympic Games Paris 2024, as he visited the Olympic Village and joined athletes for a boat cruise on the River Seine, replicating some of the experience they will have at the Opening Ceremony.
After a tour of the Village, President Bach joined the unveiling of the official countdown clock by Worldwide Olympic Partner OMEGA on the banks of the Seine before boarding the boat where athletes had the first opportunity to interact with the Olympic torch, whose design was revealed earlier in the day.
Among the athletes present were Olympic champion Usain Bolt, the iconic sprinter from Jamaica, and French Olympic gold medallist, boxer Estelle Mossely. The IOC President was also joined by the Chair of the IOC Coordination Commission for Paris 2024, Pierre-Olivier Beckers; the President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, Tony Estanguet; the French Minister of Sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudea-Castera; President of Île-de-France region Valérie Pécresse; Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo; and representatives of National Olympic Committees (NOCs) that will symbolically receive invitations to take part in the Games during a ceremony to be held in the French capital tomorrow.
President Bach said: “In one year from now, athletes from all over the world will be living in the Olympic Village, all together, under the same roof, to take part in a peaceful competition. This Olympic Village will be their home, and from what I saw today, everything has been done to make their experience an unforgettable one.”
He added: “The final countdown has now begun. They can look forward to fantastic Olympic Games in Paris. I could see first-hand today the support of the fans as the Olympic torch was going down the River Seine, and I already have goosebumps just thinking of the extraordinary spectacle these Games will provide to fans across the globe.”
During the tour of the Olympic Village, which is on track to be delivered to the Organising Committee in March 2024, the IOC President had a glimpse of a day in the life of an athlete during the Games by visiting a fully furnished apartment and other common areas such as the dining hall and the Plaza.
Located in Seine-Saint-Denis, northeast of Paris, the site’s housing, shops, public facilities, workplaces and green spaces will meet the long-term living needs of 6,000 residents, and will provide jobs for 6,000 people.
President Bach also heard about the sustainable model applied in the construction of the Village, with a carbon footprint 30 per cent smaller than that of a modern construction project. Designed to adapt to changing temperatures, most of its buildings will benefit from a water-based cooling system and heating from a geothermal network.
Later, during the cruise stop at Debilly Port, hundreds of supporters could experience what some of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 celebration sites, such as the recently announced Champions Park, will feel like, by greeting the athletes when they left the boat.
Tomorrow, to mark exactly one year to go until the Opening Ceremony, President Bach will lead a ceremony in which the IOC will officially invite the NOCs and their best athletes to participate in the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, which will take place from 26 July to 11 August 2024.