Ahead of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, IOC President Thomas Bach wrote an Op Ed for three nationwide publications in France. It was published in L’Equipe, Le Parisien and Ouest France last weekend.
The Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 is only days away. The excitement gripping this nation is palpable. As this unique festival of sport draws closer, we all are feeling that France and the French people are ready to welcome the world’s best athletes with the hospitality and passion for sport for which they are famous all around the world. Already millions of people have greeted the Olympic flame on its journey around France with a huge wave of enthusiasm. All of us are looking forward to an unforgettable celebration of Olympic sport and French culture in the coming weeks.
The stage is set for Olympic Games that will be younger, more inclusive, more urban and more sustainable. They will be the first Olympic Games that are fully aligned with the IOC Olympic Agenda reforms from start to finish. These will be Olympic Games where everyone can play their part, not just as spectators, but as participants. Almost nine million tickets have already been sold – six million of them for under 50 Euros. Fans can enjoy events like road cycling, triathlon or the marathon, which are open to all. The public can take part in events, such as the “Marathon Pour Tous”, when 40,000 people will run the same route just hours before the Olympic athletes. Millions of French children are already taking part in daily exercises as part of their school curriculum. And there will be another milestone for inclusion: for the first time in history, we will have Olympic Games with full gender parity, because the IOC has allocated exactly 50 per cent of places to female athletes and to male athletes. For all of these reasons, the Paris 2024 slogan “Games wide open” is a perfect reflection of our Olympic Agenda reforms.
Billions of people from all around the world are looking forward to Paris 2024. At a time when the world is torn apart by so much conflict and division, people everywhere are fed up with all the hate, wars, aggression and fake news. Against this geopolitical backdrop, we are happy that our many efforts over the last years allow us to bring together athletes from the territories of all 206 National Olympic Committees and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team in a peaceful competition.
This means that even if their countries are in conflict or even at war, their athletes will compete while respecting the same rules. They will be living peacefully together under one roof in the Olympic Village. The 10,500 best athletes of the world will send this inspiring message of unity, hope and peace from France to the world. With openness, respect, inclusion and true solidarity, everyone will feel welcome and at home at these Olympic Games Paris 2024. Over half of the entire world’s population will follow these Olympic Games and be inspired by this message.
The stage is set: the athletes are ready, all of France is ready, the Olympic Movement is ready. Let us come together to celebrate and to enjoy together spectacular Olympic Games Paris 2024. These Olympic Games will be about sport – and about more than sport. To our French Olympic friends, I say: Allez les Bleus!
Thomas Bach
IOC President
