Les Olympics

A few last minute thoughts on the 2024 Paris Olympics

Paris really knocked it out of the ballpark last night. After getting caught up in the wave of skepticism (and grumbling) by Parisians about the Paris Olympic Games, the games are almost over and I had a blast. It was capped off by attending the women’s Beach Volleyball finals, which were medal rounds. And wow—what an event, what a night, and it was incredible to watch the world’s greatest athletes compete in a stadium that was undoubtably the best spot to be in the world last night. I doubt anyone else could top it. Walking into the stadium, which was built right under the foot of the Eiffel Tower, was an unforgettable experience and I was grateful to be a part of it.

I made sandwiches to take to the Water Polo Match as I wasn’t sure about French stadium food (which ended up being reheated pizza and Coke - which athletes swimming in the Seine have been guzzling to ward of bacteria in the water), so was happy to have these, made with jambon de Paris, Comté cheese, cornichons, mustard and fig chutney.

There was a lot of grousing during the last year about the Olympics, part of the usual pessimism in Paris. I shrugged it off and figured I’d avoid it; living in the 11th arrondissement, I wouldn’t be inconvenienced by the events since nothing was going on in our neighborhood, and I smugly told people I’d just go to local shops and stay close to home for the few weeks the games were in town. And that would be that.

My plans were thwarted when I got a notice that I had to go to an official procedural meeting (#france) adjacent the Seine, the day before the opening ceremonies, which were fenced off and heavily guarded. The city was taking a huge risk having the ceremonies on the Seine, and they invested heavily (1,4 billion euros, around 1.5 billion dollars) in cleaning up the river so swimming events could be held there. There were also heightened security concerns and strict controls, so I had to fill out a form to get a QR code to pass through the barriers for my meeting, which took several nail-biting days to finally get approved.

If you read my August newsletter, you know that I wasn’t quite a fan of the Opening Ceremonies, which wandered away from the athletes and dove into the history and culture of France in, well…unusual and unexpected ways.

The driving, drenching rain didn’t help the ceremonies succeed, but one thing Americans do well, and love, is having fun…and the ceremonies (to me) were anything but. And weren’t very effective at capturing the spirit of what the Olympics is about either. There were good and not-good things about it, which I talked about in my newsletter, and rumor has it they’ve been retooling the closing ceremonies ever since, so we’ll see what happens. I think it’ll be a lot better, and…yes, a lot more fun.

The stifling crowds never appeared in Paris. Many blame the hotels raising prices 300%, and sky-high airfares. Plus there was the usual exodus from Paris by locals for their summer vacations, which happens every August, removing thousands of people from the city, many smug that they were escaping just in time before the nightmare began.

Too bad for them. For us who stayed, Paris turned into one big party and by all measures the 2024 Paris Olympics was a hit.