International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has announced that Paris is fully prepared to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Speaking at an IOC executive board meeting on Wednesday, Bach highlighted Paris’ alignment with the Olympic agenda reforms and expressed confidence in the city’s readiness.
“Paris is not only on track to deliver the first-ever Olympic Games aligned with our Olympic agenda reforms, but they are ready, they are set,” Bach stated.
The 2024 Olympics will be held from July 26 to August 11, featuring around 10,500 athletes from 206 countries competing in 329 events across 32 sports. In a historic first, the opening ceremony will take place on the River Seine, showcasing a floating parade of athletes instead of the traditional stadium setting.
Reflecting on the innovative ceremony, Bach drew parallels to the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, where an open-air event garnered significant public enthusiasm.
“We had an opening ceremony in the open in 2018, at the Youth Olympic Games, and this worked extremely well,” Bach told Eurosport. “We had hundreds of thousands of people there in the main avenue in Buenos Aires, around the obelisk, and there was great emotion.”
Bach also recounted the development of the River Seine ceremony concept. Initially met with some skepticism due to security concerns, the idea gained traction after consultations with relevant authorities.
“I turned to Tony Estanguet (head of the Paris 2024 organizing committee) and said I could imagine this in Paris,” Bach added. “Tony said it would be very difficult. We kept talking and came back to the idea from time to time. And then Tony said, you know, I need to first consult security, the authorities, but I think it’s really a good idea.”
