Paris 2024: Let The Fiscal Follies Begin!
Will an Olympic-sized toilet finally make the Seine fit for humans?
The 2024 Summer Olympic Games are hurtling toward Paris like an errant asteroid. Organizers are projecting that 1 million people will come to France to watch some part of the games in just 10 months.
One might assume that such a tidal wave of humanity would be an economic boom. But one would be wrong, according to a recent report by the Bank of France, which attempted to lower expectations of an Olympic economic bonanza, per Le Parisien:
Bosses and representatives of the sectors concerned (security, hotels, catering, construction) and interested in the organization of this global event (July 26 - August 11) learned that they should not expect any miracles.
“Just as there was no wow effect in London in 2012 (the British capital was organizer of the Games that year), the effects will not be macroeconomic in Île-de-France. The Games will, however, have an impact on certain sectors and sectors, certain companies and on certain territories,” put into perspective Vincent Biausque, deputy to the regional director in charge of the Olympics at INSEE.
In London, the occupancy rate of hotels had only reached 88.5% over the period of the Games. As for attendance at historical monuments and museums, it had experienced a decline at that time.
Darn. But meanwhile, here at ground zero, the action is already heating up.
Investigators have searched the offices of the organizing committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as well as the event agencies responsible for the opening ceremonies.
According to the AFP, the visit by financial investigators was “part of a preliminary investigation for illegal taking of interest, favoritism and concealment concerning several markets linked to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.” The greatest of all Olympic traditions!
Among the red flags: The dude in charge of the opening ceremonies, Thierry Reboul, used to run an event company that merged with several other event companies to create a larger event company that was then hired by the Olympic committee. Reboul had sold his shares, but still…
In a press release, the Paris 2024 committee confirmed the visit by financial investigators and said it was “fully collaborating with the investigation as it has always done.”
This follows searches of the headquarters of the Organizing Committee in Saint-Denis and at the headquarters of Solideo, the company overseeing the construction of venues for the games.
You may recall it’s been an exciting year for accusations of corruption and conflicts of interest for Olympic organizers. France’s Olympic Committee (CNOSF) Brigitte Henriques resigned abruptly as president earlier this year following accusations of corruption by her predecessor.
This all has prompted fun headlines like this one from Le Monde: “One year before the Games, the specter of scandal looms over the Paris 2024 Olympics.” To wit:
The wave of searches conducted in June, as part of two preliminary investigations led by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) has raised the threat of the event's key figures being implicated, even before the competition's opening.
These dramatic anti-corruption police operations took place at the COJOP headquarters and the public institution in charge of infrastructure, SOLIDEO. This was a "crushing blow" and "bad publicity a year before the Games," as COJOP's lawyer Charlotte Plantin acknowledged, "even though the committee is under close scrutiny and has endeavored to be exemplary."
Seine Swimming Remains Murky
One of the most hyped aspects of the Games is the attempt to clean up the Seine River so some water events can be held there. Promoters and politicians have been relentlessly talking up the massive expenditures (€1.4 billion) to make the polluted waterway swimmable for humans. In a daring move, organizers will hold the opening ceremonies on the Seine.
Just one problem: the Seine remains a toxic swamp.
Record rains forced organizers to cancel several test events in late summer, including the Olympic triathlon and paratriathlon test events, and the Open Water Swimming World Cup. There was too much E.coli (aka, poop) in the water.
Organizers continue to insist the Seine will be ready.
“There is no solution to move the event; triathlon and open water swimming will take place in the Seine next year,” said lead organizer Tony Estanguet, in an interview.
The big challenge: Paris’ sewage system is ancient and a ton of water still runs off the streets and into the river. To address that, the government is building “the Austerlitz storage basin.” This mammoth project is supposed to capture at least some of that runoff and then transport it underground to a new water treatment plant. Think of it as a toilet bowl, but the size of 20 Olympic pools.
The problem is that it ain’t done. The Guardian reports:
"Yet the cavernous Austerlitz basin – a building site fringed by diggers and cranes – currently appears as the rest of the city’s Seine clean-up plans: incomplete. The goal is to have what is essentially a giant rainwater holding tank, measuring 50m wide and 34m deep, capable of storing up to 46m litres ready by spring. Once the rainwater is collected there, it will be transported via a tunnel beneath Austerlitz train station and the 350-year-old Pitié-Salpêtrière University hospital beside it, beneath the river, to a downstream treatment plant. When levels of Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci meet the safety thresholds, it will be passed back into the Seine.
This €1.4bn construct is now the great hope, organisers tell me, for the Games, the city, and beyond; a vital step in preventing further pollution of the 777km (482-mile) waterway
Spring will be cutting it close.
Those Booksellers…
When my mom came to visit Paris last year, the No. 1 thing she wanted to see: those famous booksellers ("bouquinistes") along the sidewalks above the Seine. But with Paris officials ordering them to clear out for the Games, they have become martyrs whose cause had been embraced across France.
Regulation of these stands is as murky as the Seine River. So the book brigade continues to fight back, insisting a bit more security would be sufficient to deter terrorists from turning their book shacks into shanty bombs.
They have declared once again their refusal to leave, which either means local authorities will have to find a compromise or force them to leave. And the latter will certainly not generate the kind of viral TikTok videos that the Olympic Games want.
Let Them Eat…Muesli With Quinoa!
In other fun news, chefs in charge of preparing meals for Olympic athletes are emphasizing vegetarian faire. "When there are 40,000 meals per day, I don't want anyone to be let down. I want people who eat kosher to eat with me, people who eat halal, the Christians and Buddhists too," Michelin-starred chef Akrame Benallal said in an interview. “It's vegetables that unite everyone.”
The New York Times notes that: “With Paris gearing up to host the 2024 Olympics — and with 150 million euros worth of sponsorship by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton — it is little wonder that some of the museums in the French capital are exploring the growing intersection of fashion and sports.
Some good news: President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Andrew Parsons declared in an interview with Le Monde that he believes the 2024 Paralympic Games (August 28 to September 8) will be “revolutionary” in terms of promoting inclusion. While Parsons had previously declared Paris’ transportation networks to be bad for people with disabilities, he praised the city for spending €125 million to make the metros and buses more accessible.
Finally, here is an Olympics hype video that rewrites the Marseillaise (fortunately leaving out the bits about slitting people’s throats) into a stirring anthem for the Games:
Chris O’Brien
Le Pecq