The Paris 2024 Olympics gets under way in one year; Sky Sports' Geraint Hughes takes a closer look at some of the biggest storylines including the security, Team GB's mascots, and Kylian Mbappe's dream
Wednesday 26 July 2023 14:44, UK
With one year to go until the Paris Olympics 2024, Sky Sports' Geraint Hughes takes a closer look at some of the biggest storylines...
On July 26, 2024 Paris will welcome the "Biggest Show on Earth". With 12 months to go it may seem like a long time, but for athletes and organisers the time will pass fast with many issues surrounding the Games still to be resolved.
Paris 2024 say they will be ready. "On track to deliver" is the official wording.
In terms of infrastructure it is looking like the venues will be ready and in the main have been tested by hosting a sporting event. However, the Opening Ceremony will see a first as the main stadium will not host it.
For Paris, a 6km parade that will see all the teams of athletes on boats moving along the River Seine towards a finale at the Trocadero, it will be seen by approximately 600,000 spectators who will line the banks of the Seine and all the surrounding routes.
It's a huge undertaking and although on paper looks and sounds innovative, it will be a headache not just for Paris 2024 organisers, but for those in charge of security for the Games and Paris as a whole.
Security is going to be one of the main talking points leading up to and during the Games. Due to the Covid pandemic and the huge restrictions placed on the Tokyo Games, not only did the Games in Japan take place a year later than scheduled, but there were no crowds and for athletes and media alike the Japanese authorities had little choice but to make the 'Olympic experience' very strange, quiet and refrained.
Paris will be the polar opposite. Crowds are back and in numbers and fans will pile into the main stadium hosting the athletics events at the 80,000-capacity Stade de France.
For many the mere mention of the 'Stade de France' sends a shiver down the spine, the experiences of Liverpool and Real Madrid fans at the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final have been well documented and although the Paris police and local organisers have apologised, albeit belatedly, the stadium and it's security processes will be under scrutiny next year.
Some can argue that it's not a 'football crowd', but the security screening getting to and getting into the Stade de France will be strict.
Paris 2024 knows it's venues could not only be targeted by international terrorism threats, but from domestic threats. The recent riots in the city following the police killing of a teenager revealed to many beyond France the discontent and disquiet among communities within the population towards the government.
The French Government, like all governments, also isn't always as popular when the cost of an Olympics is pitted against local infrastructure such as housing, health and transport. And gauging the cost of Paris 2024 varies from an overall cost of around £4bn to a cost to the French public of £2.3bn and even one estimate of a final cost of nearing US$10bn (£7.79bn)
Paris 2024 also have a trust and credibility issue outstanding. Last month police searched the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Olympics organising committee, as well as its major infrastructure partner, as part of investigations into alleged embezzlement of public funds and favouritism. Paris 2024 have repeatedly said they are and have been cooperating, but as yet no conclusion to the findings by authorities. No police raid is good PR, but approaching the 'One Year to Go' mark is far from good timing.
Heat is another consideration for organisers. Europe has this summer witnessed temperatures in the mid to late 40 degrees. It hasn't been just for a day or two, the heat has remained for almost two weeks now. Working and living in temperatures in excess of 40 degrees is a challenge let alone elite athletes pushing their bodies to the limit. It can be extremely dangerous.
Heat mitigation should be an area though where Paris 2024 have expertise to draw from. Measures were put in place for Tokyo 2020 where at times temperatures were 37, 38 degrees Celsius plus multiple World Championships have taken place in venues at the peak of their summer with high temperatures and humidity. The issue for Paris though is it's infrastructure, can it cope with 40 degree heat? Will it be safe for spectators and can the fans travel to and from venues safely?
And then there is politics… who said sport and politics should never mix? They do. Cue how do the International Olympic Committee (IOC) deal with the inclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus? For now, the IOC are pushing a decision on their participation to nearer the time. I think in British politics it's been called "kicking the can down the road."
The war in Ukraine has seen Russia and Belarus as 'nation states' barred from many international sporting events. Russian and Belarus athletes haven't been allowed to compete under their national flags, no national anthem, no reference to their country, but for Ukraine and many allies the prospect of Russian and Belarus athletes competing at Paris 2024 even as neutrals is too much.
Ukraine have threatened to boycott. The UK Government convened a summit of like-minded nations where their Sports Ministers continue to lobby the IOC about a full ban on Russian and Belarus athletes, coaches and support staff.
What the UK Government and other western Governments have not and probably will not do is commit to boycotting Paris 2024 as a threat to the IOC.
Expect plenty of medal success from Team GB at Paris 2024. The team overall is too good not to pick up regular medals even if some sports have an 'off day'.
Ever since the Atlanta Games of 1996 where Team GB won just one gold with 15 medals overall, the impact of a more professional sporting landscape, money from National Lottery and Government have seen Team GB become of the big players alongside powerhouses such as the USA, China and Russia. There were 51 medals were secured in 2008 at Beijing, 65 at London 2012, 67 at Rio four years later and the Team brought home 64 medals from the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021. Since 2008 Team GB finish no lower than fourth in the medal table.
Things have changed though in recent years, finances are tighter so the money needs to go further while much needed cultural reforms are in place in many if not all sports following the harrowing testimony from gymnasts, the pursuit of success placed ahead of the welfare and mental well-being of athletes no longer tolerated.
The medals should be spread out over a number of sports that Team GB will compete in. Team GB will again be strong in cycling, rowing, boxing, swimming and athletics for example, but expect some new names to appear at Paris as a new generation of British & Northern Irish sportsmen and women come to the fore.
Once again it is expected that Team GB will select more female athletes than men as they did at Tokyo although those numbers are never confirmed until days before the actual Games begin as qualification competition can go right to the wire.
For the first time Team GB will have mascots for an Olympic Games. It's become a normal feature of all Premier League matches to see the players escorted out onto the pitch with a mascot, but never before have Team GB had mascots.
At Paris 2024, Team GB want to give five 5-11 year old kids the opportunity to stand alongside the 370 strong athletes & see what it's like up close to prepare for the biggest sporting moment of their careers.
Team GB are looking for kids who love sport and love the Olympic Games. It's their chance to meet the Team, see them as they put their final preparations into place and also look the part as they'll get decked out in the Team GB Olympic kilt.
Two-time Olympic rowing champion Helen Glover who is attempting to compete at her fourth Olympics in Paris and herself a mother of three said: "It's a cool idea to have a Team GB mascot, it's never been done before... What I hope is the young people go away thinking athletes are not different to anyone else, they are just normal people.
"Olympians are sometimes put on a pedestal and can sometimes feel unapproachable, that's how I felt a little when growing up, but it couldn't be further from reality. The whole point is so that kids can see these athletes and who knows be inspired themselves."
Parents or guardians can nominate their child to be one a mascot by confirming interest on the dedicated mini mascots page on the Team GB website, TeamGB.com.
He may be out of love with his club, Paris Saint-Germain, but if you are to believe Kylian Mbappe and the French Football Federation, Mbappe is very much in love with Paris & all things Olympic.
Mbappe has made little secret to the French public ever since the Tokyo Games that he wants to represent France at an Olympic Games and especially so to represent France at a home games in Paris in 2024.
Mbappé had been set to represent France at the Olympics in Tokyo, but his participation was blocked by PSG due to the busy schedule during the summer of 2021. France also somehow failed to qualify for the men's football tournament. Mbappe has been quoted since as saying: "I feel destined to participate in this huge celebration in my city, in my country, a hundred years after the last competition in France."
Born in Paris close to the Stade de France, it's understood that should Mbappe still remain a PSG player in the summer of 2024 - however unlikely that looks right now! - he has negotiated into his contract a release for the Olympics from late July. Mbappe is also scheduled to represent France at the Euros in Germany next year with that Final taking place less than a fortnight before the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
French Football Federation President Phillipe Diallo was only elected in June, but that very day told French media that he would be doing everything he could to pave the way for Mbappe to play for France at the Paris Olympics.
Diallo is acutely aware of the attention that the Olympics in Paris will get and wants football to get its share of the limelight and that means having Les Blues men's captain competing as an Olympian.
Mbappe would be 25 by the time his 'home' Games begin so would be selected as one of three 'over-age' players allowed as the men's Olympic football tournament is an under-23 competition. As hosts France can enter both men's & women's teams without having to prequalify.
