The 2024 Olympics is days away from commencing in Paris. As athletes prepare to compete on the world's biggest stage, concerns varying from “poop protests” to a snap election called by President Emmanuel Macron take centre stage.
The 2024 edition of the Summer Games marks the third time Paris will host the prestigious event, exactly 100 years since it was last hosted here. Typically, issues arise once the competition commences, but the City of Love has made headlines for the wrong reasons, raising safety concerns, among others.
The River Seine Controversy
Back in 2017, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo emphasised one major deed in the city's final push to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, that its famous river Seine would play a major role in the fixture of the games. A few days from now, the Seine River will host a historic opening ceremony that will be held outside of a stadium for the first time.
The iconic river will also play host to open water swimming events, involving triathletes and marathon swimmers. It is understandable why the Seine was chosen for the same—the river runs along some of Paris' famous spectacles, notably the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. However, there is just one problem, swimming has been banned in the river for a century now, given the excess presence of trash and effluents in it.
This isn't the first time that the swimming events have been under the threat of cancellation due to water quality issues. Similar headlines were seen during the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. In both cases, they emerged successful, and Paris hopes to do the same.
The journey to clean up the Seine has been anything but a cakewalk. An initial test in the river was cancelled due to unacceptable levels of E. Coli in the water.
Parisians displayed visible frustrations in the form of a “poop protest” when Mayor Hidalgo and President Macron proposed to take a dip in the river last month to prove it's safe for the swimming events at the Olympic games.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo went swimming in the city's River Seine on Wednesday morning, July 17, in a bid to prove the water is clean enough to host outdoor swimming events at the #Olympics.
📹: Anne Hidalgo via Storyful 📷: Getty Images pic.twitter.com/op9RE1501bWhile the Mayor and Head of the Organising Committee Tony Estangue made good on their commitment, the Paris 2024 Olympics has plenty more concerns to address.
Will Politics Upstage The Main Event?
The International Olympic Committee wants to reaffirm its stance against the politicisation of sport, with the inclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus amid their ongoing association in the invasion of Ukraine. It is also evident with the IOC ignoring calls to prevent the participation of Israel in the Summer Games.
However, politics has been a major driving factor in sports, and the Olympics is not shy of the same, but what will the Paris Olympics have in store for us?
France is already under the spotlight due to its political upheaval after Emmanuel Macron called for a snap election last month. The National Assembly remains fractured, as it remains to be seen who will hold the government when the games begin.
Despite the Left-wing New Popular Front coalition's triumph, with Macron's centrist party finishing second, the lack of an outright majority has led to internal discord along with violent protests.
This comes at a time when France would require the utmost efficiency in the handling of urgent needs and crisis reciprocation. How will France respond with the world's eyes fixed on them?
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