Politique Internationale — We are now less than a year and a half away from the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. Has the countdown begun or are you still in a stage-by-stage logic?
Tony Estanguet — The countdown began symbolically in the summer of 2021 at the end of the Tokyo Games when the Olympic and Paralympic flags were entrusted to us, making us officially the next country to organise the Summer Games. In fact, we have been up and running since 2017 with the attribution of the Games to Paris because an event such as this is prepared seven years in advance. But it is true that 2021 and 2022 marked an acceleration in the preparation. We are within the planned timeframe. As for delivery of Olympic and Paralympic works, firstly, construction is going as planned on the two emblematic sites, the Olympic Village and the Olympic Aquatic Centre. As for the ceremonies, we reached an important milestone with the unveiling of a new concept for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on the Seine. Our plans continue to arouse strong enthusiasm among the French, as demonstrated by Club Paris 2024 which has now passed the threshold of 350,000 members.
And this is just the beginning because the volunteers’ programme, which was launched at the end of 2022, and the relay of the flame – we are working out the route with the provinces — will further increase this dynamic. And we must not forget the eight new partners who joined us in 2021 and the four who joined in 2022. Finally, the legacy of the Paris 2024 Games is already taking shape, be it with the establishment of an ambitious climate strategy or programmes aiming to promote active schooling – particularly, the introduction of 30 minutes of physical activity per day in primary school classes – and, more generally, to develop the practice of sport on a daily basis for everyone.
P. I. — The consensus is that the health crisis is destined to mark our societies for a long time. Has this crisis been a brake on the initial ambitions of Paris 2024? For example, are sustainable Games still a priority?
T. E. — Faced with this unprecedented situation, we remain both optimistic – with the hope that worldwide efforts will allow us to beat Covid between now and 2024 – and humble faced with the uncertain final end to the pandemic. We are adapting; this is inherent to any event like the Games. This was already demonstrated at the end of 2020 by a revision of the concept which allowed us to gain in budgetary control and in compactness thanks to a reduction in the number of competition sites and their optimisation. We shall continue to adapt and refine our model by profiting more and repeatedly from our advantages: the power of sport; exceptional venues; actions to reinforce the proximity between athletes and the public, while still remaining rigorous on the fundamentals – security, transport and technology… But we shall not compromise on our ambition to organise spectacular and completely innovative Games in terms of participation and access: the first events will be open to the public at large and the first opening ceremony will greet hundreds of thousands of spectators free of charge. We shall not compromise either on our will to organise Games that are eco- responsible and useful at one and the same time for employment and for training, especially for people who are the furthest away from the jobs market; the development of opportunities for companies; and the promotion of the role of sport in health and inclusion. Our commitment on the environment remains a priority.
The very concept of the Paris 2024 Games, using 95% of existing or temporary sporting infrastructures, allows us to come up with a carbon footprint that is half that of earlier editions. But we want to go even further: we are committed to compensating even more emissions than those generated by the event. We are also putting into place innovative management tools to limit our impact on biodiversity and to preserve it, to optimize resources and to favour the circular economy. We hope this way to contribute to the ecological transition of the sporting movement by leaving a legacy to its stakeholders: a method and the tools for a more sustainable organisation of sporting events. More than ever, the Games must play a role as an accelerator to promote eco-responsible solutions for the good of society.
P. I. — All through these months of preparation, given the context, have you ever sensed any discouragement among your partners?
T. E. — Quite the contrary and this is one of the lessons of the Tokyo Games and of the success of the handover ceremonies between Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 at the Trocadéro: just like the French athletes and public present on those days, all the interested parties in the project are demonstrating a lot of enthusiasm and eager anticipation in the run-up to 2024. Despite the delicate context, the magic of the Games still works and the strength of attraction of our project remains intact. The Games have this unique power to bring us together and create positive dynamics, for the sporting movement and also for economic actors, some of whom, such as the events sector, have been particularly affected. Our ambition is that the Games should be a vector of opportunities for both large and small companies. Our method, which depends on the cooperation and the involvement of all actors in this project – the government, the host communities and communities associated with the Games in the framework of the Terre de Jeux (Land of Games) programme, the sporting movement, partner companies and NGOs – also allowed us to handle these difficult moments together and to take better decisions and keep this collective momentum. We now are all impatient to be in 2024 and to witness the moments of celebration and cohesion.
P. I. — What can we say today about the Paris 2024 economic environment? Are you on target for the bigger objectives – ticketing, sponsors’ commitment and the plans for retransmission?
T. E. — There again, we are meeting the timetable. The Paris 2024 Games have a great appeal to companies: at the end of 2022, we succeeded in securing 80% of the expected revenue from partnerships. The programme of official products under licence has also been launched and, at the end of 2021, 21 accredited companies were already working at our side, including 19 French companies.
As for ticketing, the main principles were adopted by the Paris 2024 committee in March 2022. Nearly 13.4 million tickets will go on sale – about 10 million for the Olympic Games and 3.4 million for the Paralympics. In line with our desire to offer Games that are popular, unifying and open to all, we decided to allocate a large number of tickets at an accessible entry price: 24 euros for all Olympic sports and 15 euros for all Paralympic sports.
Finally, broadcast rights for the Paralympic Games of Paris 2024 were attributed in January 2022 to France Télévisions. This agreement will allow this event to shine and to showcase as never before the performances of the Paralympic athletes. The public broadcaster will also be the exclusive unencrypted broadcaster of the Olympic Games after a subcontracting licence agreement concluded with the Discovery group. The economic environment of Paris 2024 is also the totality of the economic opportunities linked to the Games – that is, 5 billion euros’ worth of markets. Our desire is to permit all companies and all structures of the social and solidarity economy, even the smallest, to benefit from this, especially through two support platforms: Entreprise 2024 and ESS 2024. Two-thirds of the companies that work with us are medium or very small businesses.
P. I. — The Olympic Games are almost as much an economic, even a diplomatic event, as a sporting one. How do you perceive this combination of different parts?
T. E. — The Games are first and foremost sporting… The strength of the Games is the athletes, their performances, the unique collective emotions that they make us experience and the values of fraternity and surpassing ourselves that inspire us. But with 15,000 athletes brought by 208 foreign delegations, almost as many heads of state government, more than 20,000 accredited journalists, 45,000 volunteers, millions of spectators and 4 billion TV viewers, obviously it is an event that reaches far beyond the sole sporting sphere. Our ambition is to benefit from this to spotlight the best France has to offer, its companies, its regions, its artists and its starred chefs… And to make the whole country proud.
P. I. — With a bit of hindsight, what did you think of the Tokyo Games? Do Games that have been tampered with remain the Games? Have you drawn lessons from Tokyo for Paris?
T. E. — The Games remain the Games, with the unique emotions that only sport can offer, even when we are seated behind our screens. In the complicated health context of 2021, they were a breath of fresh air that really did us a lot of good. And, after several months, I remain impressed by the resilience of the Tokyo 2020 teams and their capacity to adapt to that difficult context. On our side, those Games were rich in lessons. The observation of the sanitary measures put in place for them helped us deepen our own planning and our anticipation of risks. The 50 or so simplification and optimisation measures adopted by the Tokyo organising committee are being analysed and some could guide us, such as the rationalisation of transport services and the management of media relations on the spot. Paris 2024 has its own stakes, but what remains common to all editions of the Games is the strength of sport. We shall therefore continue to capitalise on our competition venues – the true settings for sport – and on the links between the athletes and the public through initiatives allowing everyone to live the magic of the Games. Finally, the Tokyo experience confirmed the need to be rigorous and not to allow any technical detail to be overlooked
– security, transport, technology or measures to deal with excessive heat – so as to offer unforgettable Games.
P. I. — It is an understatement to say that the planet today is going through big societal upheavals: inclusion, parity, the MeToo movement of woke culture… How do the Games fit in to this ocean of diversity? Do they have a specific message to convey?
T. E. — At Paris 2024, we are convinced that environmental and social questions must be at the heart of the model of organisation of sporting events. We also believe in the inspiration emanating from the athletes. Many of them are working alongside us because they share the same desire to get things moving on the challenges facing society that we take to heart, such as the promotion of the values of respect and tolerance. The simple fact of bringing together all the Olympic and Paralympic athletes into the same single team for France, as we have been doing for the past year for the Olympics and Paralympics, can contribute to changing how people see disability, for example. Beyond the Games, it is sport that brings us together. We are convinced that it changes lives and that it has an essential role to play in a great number of fields. That is why we want to benefit from the impetus of the Games to give it a more central place in our society and develop the practice of sport for all and make it into a tool with social impact. This is behind our Impact 2024 strategy which has, notably, resulted in the creation of the Paris 2024 endowment fund. This fund allows us to add value to, support and help develop social innovation projects in the fields of education, health, equality between men and women, the struggle against discrimination, inclusion and ecological transformation. Since its creation in 2020, 10 million euros have been distributed, including 3.5 million euros by Paris 2024, to more than 300 projects and 700,000 beneficiaries – the young, women or the disabled – throughout France.
P. I. — Before taking part primarily in the organisation of the Olympic Games, you were a participant on the ground. More than that, a well-known athlete. What role is the more desirable of these two missions? Did your experience as a sportsman help you in your current functions?
T. E. — When I ended my sporting career, I did not imagine that I would find a challenge more stimulating than that which consists of setting out to win medals. But, very quickly, I became involved in this project and it is perhaps even more fascinating. Bringing together all the best that our country has to propose a new model for the Games, for welcoming people and making the French proud is a mission that I would swap for nothing on earth. And my experience as an athlete helped me enormously. What I learned throughout my career was that you don’t win if you don’t have the will to win. That is as true for sport as it is in all areas. So on each subject, we set out our ambitions and we never give up on the pretext that it has never been done before, like the opening of the Games outside a stadium, for example. The river also taught me that nothing ever happens as planned because the movement of the water changes all the time and you have to adapt constantly. But perhaps the most important lesson from my first life as an athlete is that you never succeed alone. Only collective performances count, even in an individual sport like canoeing.