Watch Olympic coverage of the Paris Olympics.
The Olympics have had a tough decade.
For many over the past decade, the five colourful rings long synonymous with the pinnacle of sport have come to symbolise billions of dollars in wasteful spending, an equally high level of political and moral dissonance, and the disintegration of the Olympics as a purely spiritual and national competition.
Each cycle has been marked by a series of problems: the annexation of Crimea and Russia’s systematic doping program at the 2014 Sochi Games, the threat of the Zika virus and unprecedented chaos at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the threat of nuclear war in South Korea in 2018, and the depressing images of empty stadiums in Tokyo in 2021 and Beijing in 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Tokyo Olympics were delayed for a year after empty stands took their shine off amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (Tim Clayton / Corbis via Getty Images)
At the same Beijing Olympics, organizers and the International Olympic Committee were frequently questioned about freedom of speech and the treatment of minorities such as the Uyghurs, which the United Nations later condemned as crimes against humanity and a direct contradiction of the Olympic Games’ proclaimed values.
Each time the Olympics slump, American TV viewers abandon their coverage in significant numbers, threatening one of the biggest sources of Olympic revenue.
Now comes Paris. One of the world’s greatest tourist destinations, a city that evokes a level of fascination and romanticism that few can match, Paris will take on the task of restoring the mythical qualities that have long made the Olympic Games something more than just a sport.
That quality may have always been more myth than truth. Crude commercialism helped transform the Olympics from a bizarre sports festival when it was last held in Paris a century ago into a multi-billion dollar behemoth. Still, Paris has promised to recapture its luster.
“I was an athlete, and I like the pressure,” said Tony Estanguette, a three-time canoe gold medalist and president of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, during a visit to New York last fall. “How can we move the line and be more creative and innovative? The success of the Games depends on the ability to evolve and make the brand of the event more appealing. It’s a constant battle.”
The IOC, a Switzerland-based organization of about 100 member nations, owns the trademarks for the cities that compete to lift the famous rings and prizes, but has been losing that fight in recent years for several reasons, one of which is the lack of geographic diversity like the previous three Olympics held in East Asia.
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To change that, the IOC has changed its bidding rules in recent years to play a more active role in targeting cities rather than simply choosing from a pool of candidates. After Paris, the Olympics will head to northern Italy, Los Angeles, the French Alps, Brisbane, Australia, and Salt Lake City. Organizers hope this will help revive sluggish interest in Western Europe and the Americas.
“There is no doubt that moving the Olympics to an iconic European city like Paris and reconnecting with fans and partners in person would be a much-needed and welcomed event,” said Michael Lynch, a prominent international sports consultant and former sports marketing director for Visa, one of the Olympic sponsors.
France has joined the fight in the most French way possible: by showing off its beautiful capital. When Estange and his team first bid for the event years ago, they decided to combine sport and culture like never before by hosting the event in the most famous and recognizable locations in and around the French capital.
The move is a stark departure from the plans most cities have followed when hosting recent Olympics, which typically involve finding a huge, undeveloped or long-abandoned area and building a massive park filled with sports facilities, usually somewhere on the outskirts of a city center, surrounded by a large fence.
Paris has done something like that with the Olympic Village where the athletes will live. It is located in Saint-Denis, north of the city center and not far from the Stade de France, where the track and field events will take place. There is also an aquatics center nearby, which hosts diving, water polo and artistic swimming.
Almost everything else is located on or just beyond the main thoroughfares surrounding central Paris, making it easy to explore on foot in an afternoon in comfortable shoes.
As the sun sets over the city on Friday evening, the opening ceremony unfolds along the Seine, with some 10,000 athletes floating down the river in boats rather than marching to a closed, isolated stadium. Beach volleyball takes place at the Eiffel Tower. Fencing takes place at the Grand Palais. Breaking, skateboarding and 3×3 basketball take place near the Place de la Concorde. Equestrian events take place at Versailles.
Beach volleyball in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower is set to be one of the visual spectacles of the Paris Olympics. (Tim Clayton / Corbis via Getty Images)
In addition to creating a two-week ad for Paris, organizers want to reimagine what the Olympics could look like by bringing them closer to population centers rather than pushing them out to remote areas. This is especially poignant after two back-to-back Olympic versions, Tokyo and Beijing, were held in unprecedented isolation. Because of COVID-19, organizers banned paid spectators.
The impact has been particularly severe in the United States, where NBC’s television audience has declined. NBC’s media rights fees account for about 50% of Olympic television revenue. Beijing 2022 coverage is down 40% from South Korea 2018, down from Sochi 2014. Tokyo 2021 coverage is down 42% from Rio 2016.
Michael Payne, the IOC’s former marketing director, said attendances had grown elsewhere, particularly in host countries in Asia, but Paris presented an opportunity for a “reboot” after what he called a few “challenging Games”.
“I’d like to get back to normal,” Fay said with the understatement of an Olympian.
There are no guarantees. No matter how wondrous and novel Friday’s opening ceremony may seem, the Olympics are, as always, clouded in these times.
Russia, one of the most important nations in the Olympic movement, remains a pariah because of its history of state-sponsored doping and the invasion of Ukraine. Athletes from Russia and Belarus will compete as part of a neutral group of athletes with no national affiliation.
Israel’s war in Gaza, a major response to deadly attacks by Hamas in October, has sparked calls for Israeli players to be banned, and protests erupted at Israel’s first-ever men’s soccer match on Wednesday.
The threat of terrorist attacks looms, especially since many events will be held in central Paris.
The global anti-doping system, which relies on independent national agencies to test athletes, has collapsed. COVID-19 infection rates are rising. As people from all over the world flock to Paris, the city could become the ultimate petri dish. In particular, the Olympic Village is where athletes will live, eat, and socialize for the next 17 days.
Olympic historian David Wolechinski said he walked 10 miles around Paris this week looking for pre-Olympic excitement. He couldn’t find it. Still, he knows that when the games start, the stadiums are full, and the host country wins its first gold medal, everything changes.
Wallachinski also knows one thing for sure.
“I think there will be good results at the Paris Olympics,” he said.
Estange wants more. He knows the world is watching.
“Pressure is positive for me,” he said. “We have to succeed.”
The equestrian event takes place in front of the Palace of Versailles, one of many combinations of sport and iconic venues at the Games. (Pierre-Philippe Marcou / AFP via Getty Images)
(Image: Dan Goldfarb / work out; Eiffel Tower Photo: Maja Hitij / Getty Images)
