Paris 2024, “confidence” in Games security due to “unprecedented” surveillance

Safety is “the priority” of the organizers of the Paris Olympic Gamesconfident that the “unprecedented” surveillance deployment will allow the competitions to take place without incident, the president of the Organizing Committee, Tony Estanguet, said this Wednesday.

“An unprecedented device was put into place. Never has France planned and deployed so many security measures,” Estanguet said in a press conference more than a hundred days before the inauguration ceremony.

“I have confidence in the law enforcement forces of our country to secure the Games. There is a huge amount of excellent work in which even the highest level of the State is involved to guarantee the safety of athletes of all delegations and the spectators. in all the competition centers,” he added.

Estnguet insisted that the surveillance does not only affect the inauguration ceremony, which will take place on the Seine and about which the authorities have recognized there are special concerns.

“Nothing is forgotten, safety is the priority of this event”said Estanguet, who said that although Paris 2024 has made dangerous decisions in other aspects, it has not done so in security.

The president of the Organization Committee also recalled the experience of France in organizing important events, even in the context of the terrorist threat as the country is currently experiencing, which has increased after the recent attack claimed by the Islamic State abroad of Moscow.

The Ministry of the Interior plans to deploy 45,000 agents at the opening ceremony, compared to 30,000 that will serve the remaining days distributed at different points of the competition.

They will be added 2,000 private security personnelwhile on the remaining days between 17,000 and 22,000 private agents will monitor the Games each day, which will involve an investment of around 350 million euros.

With 107 days until the boats that will transport the various Olympic delegations begin to parade along the Seine and six before the Olympic flame is lit in the Greek city of Olympia, Estanguet sent a message of optimism about progress. of preparations.

“We are ready to face this final stage, we are gathering confidence and calmnesswe are convinced that various key stages have been overcome,” he assured.

He pointed out that some long-term infrastructure built in a project that boasts that 85% of the facilities have already been built have been delivered on time, while short-term ones, such as the stadiums in the Place de la Concorde, the palace of Versailles or the Eiffel Tower, they are advancing at a planned pace.

He is also proud of maintaining the level of budget spending and the rate of ticket sales. Almost eight million have already been sold and on April 17, with exactly 100 days to go before the Games begin, another 250,000 will be sold across all sports, at all prices and on all websites.

In this new batch, Estanguet announced, half of the tickets will cost less than 100 euros and only 5% will exceed 400.

After a brief tour of Greece, the torch will arrive in Athens on April 26, where it will board a French sailboat that will take it to Marseille, where on May 8 it will begin its journey through France, including territories elsewhere. country.

Estaguet assured that his country wanted “the boldest option” in every decision that he had to address about the Games and pointed out that they will be “more spectacular” than expected in the candidacy project approved in 2017 by the IOC.

This is so, he said, because since then it was decided that the first opening ceremony outside a stadium, competition areas such as Tahiti, the Place de la Concorde or the Grand Palais were added and an attempt was made to “pronounce” the Games. with activities such as the “marathon for all”, which will allow the public to travel more than just 42 kilometers of athletes.