A curious tension fills the Parisian streets – trepidation. Following Friday’s Olympic opening ceremony, many locals who haven’t already left are planning their escape abroad or to the countryside. Disruption to train services connecting the capital, caused by saboteurs, has further frayed nerves. For those staying, their collective apathy has left the soul of Paris empty. The apprehension feels palpable as the city holds its breath. Yet, there is a hesitant feeling of hope.
At a recent Olympic press conference held by French president Emmanuel Macron, Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), promised that the Games would be more inclusive, younger, urban and sustainable than ever. Organisers have invested in cleaning-up the river Seine and using temporary outdoor arenas beside iconic landmarks rather than spending billions on new stadiums and facilities.
The Games will also fire the starting gun on an even more ambitious project. “Grand Paris” aims to bind the city and its sprawling suburbs together. Metro extensions, connecting bike routes and a new rapid transit system will form a large beltway around the capital. Due to be completed by 2030, it will form an area eight times the size of the historic city.
It is a scale of urban planning ambition not seen since the days of Napoleon IIII. Is it feasible? Cost-wise, however, the IOC says Paris 2024 should be among the cheapest decades. Estimated at €10 billion, the Games are projected to come in at less than a quarter of the €44 billion spent during the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The Paris Games aim to generate between €7 billion and €11 billion from the 15 million expected visitors. Organisers have also pledged to emit just half of the carbon emissions produced by the London 2012 Games.
While there is upbeat mood music from officials, it is a very different story among many small business owners, The huge undertaking has turned much of central Paris into a maximum-security site, with kilometers of metal fences and checkpoints.
Hervé Lethielleux, owner of l’Etiquette wine shop on Île Saint-Louis, was among many small businesses who were forced to close as part of a huge security operation during the week leading up to the opening ceremony.
Lethielleux recalls the pandemic-like circumstances as police presented in his shop to announce the island’s closure, ordering him to sign papers with no clear explanation. From the day after, the island would be accessible only to residents or those with a QR code. He describes the first day of restricted opening as “a disaster, it was just like Covid again”. Frustrated by the city’s lack of information, and compensation for these restrictions, he left with his wife for the countryside the following day.
His shop, which specialises in organic and regional French produce, will open only to those with access, while pop-ups for Heineken and Coca-Cola will stretch the island’s perimeter. So much for promoting French tourism, grumble many local retailers.
The political stakes of delivering the Games have been immense, and the country’s most recent elections have pushed France into new directions. Although, if an elated Macron at the opening ceremony is anything to go by, these Games have at least restored some pride to the embattled president. Parisian politics have been equally tumultuous as mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo has faced equal criticism from the public for her handling of preparations.
Nevertheless, in an act of comic relief, or self-induced hysteria, Hidalgo plunged into the Seine to exhibit its appeal, the symbolic dip affirming the fulfilment of a €1.4 billion plan to ensure the water is safe for swimmers. A success, overall, representative of the sustainability and reinvention that this Games has branded itself on. And for Hidalgo, a successful Paris 2024 might yet award her the political success bestowed upon a former Olympic time London mayor – Boris Johnson.
For all this talk of optimism and deliverance, Olympic-induced anxiety feels ubiquitous. Fears raised by the recent political impasse, security threats and a housing crisis have proved successful deterrents for visitors and locals. And this was before Friday’s rail disruption. Parisians have taken to social media to voice their concerns about the disrupting effect the Games will have on transport and infrastructure, not to mention the sacred Parisian act of wandering around.
The usual dread of staying in a deserted, semi-functioning Paris during August has been replaced by the fear of an over-functioning city. Even with the opening ceremony over, residents feel unsure of what is to come. If last year’s Rugby World Cup is anything to go by, passengers face the prospect of being crammed in like sardines on metro rides. The mood will hardly be helped by the local public transport authority’s decision to hike metro ticket prices for the duration of the Olympics.
Despite the bourgeois malaise, many of these fears are well-founded. The Paris city government has anticipated such seismic pressure on the transport system that it is launching initiatives to allow people to work from home, reviving dreams of télétravail (remote working). While a survey conducted in March by Atout France indicated that 70 per cent of Parisians had no intention of leaving, the recent mass migration from the city to Burgundy and Marseilles suggests otherwise.
Besides concerns for infrastructure, security threats to the Games caused by the recent political impasse have emboldened the state to pour €1 billion into security and policing. Last week an 18-year-old was arrested by the French authorities suspected of plotting attacks during the Games. A Russian chef who has lived in France for 14 years, meanwhile, was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of plotting with a foreign power to stage “large scale” acts of “destabilisation” during the event. Will all the overall positive sentiments about the Olympics be overwhelmed by Paris’s modern trauma of terrorism?
Those attending the Games may have more pressing anxieties. Despite many events being strategically placed to display the cities’ big landmarks, these charms may be diluted by the security concerns of attending open air venues. Watching volleyball beside the Eiffel Tower or water sports beside the Seine, spectators face the prospect of being hemmed in by steel fences erected along footpaths, all under the watchful eye of a significant police presence.
For all the fear and loathing, what benefit will the Games bring? Hosting the Olympics is notoriously costly, typically benefiting advertisers, corporate partnerships and the IOC. With just two countries in history emerging with a profit from the Games - Los Angeles in 1984 and the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City - the Olympics is a huge financial gamble.
Perhaps the most promising potential gains lie outside central Paris. In Seine-Saint-Denis, the newly constructed Olympic Village promises new beginnings for the area alongside Stade de France and the Games’ aquatic centre. The development is part of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy’s ambitious vision to decentralise Paris. So far, it seems to be working: some blue chip companies who have opted to locate outside the city centre have put down roots in the suburb.
This “green village” will feature geothermal heating and anti-pollution infrastructure for almost 15,000 athletes. Much of the complex is constructed from wood and building materials which were transported by boat, as part of the organisers’ pledge to reduce carbon emissions.
Tech companies, bike lanes, geothermal – it sounds collectively like a recipe for gentrification, and such claims are not so far-fetched. The village could deliver vital housing to one of the city’s poorest suburbs and, if the government keeps its word, the 2,800 units to house the athletes will be converted to permanent homes for 6,000 people – a quarter of which will be reserved for public housing. As locals express hope for the possibilities ahead, this temporary event may help provide long-term solutions.
It is not just Seine-Saint-Denis that has undergone a transformation. Tourists captivated by Paris-induced bliss have been quick to credit the city’s tidiness. It has come a cost. Attempts by the government to “clean” its streets resulted in the mass deportation of migrants and homeless people from Paris and its suburbs in preparation for the Games. The state-sanctioned “social cleansing” has entailed forced evictions of the city’s most vulnerable as they are shipped into neighbouring cities.
Some 3,000 people have been removed from areas surrounding the Olympic sites alone, not including those from the entire Paris region. When pressed on the matter of social cleansing, sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra insisted that these “movements” had nothing to do with the Olympics.
In solidarity with the forced evictions, many locals have mobilised in protest to oppose the Olympics from going ahead. Paul Alauzy, manager at Médecins du Monde, an international humanitarian organisation, reflects on the years of mistreatment at the hands of the police, noting that evictions and harassment have only become worse because of the Olympics.
As the Games begin, there is anticipation – and some trepidation – over what lies ahead. They may not be a conduit to world peace, as envisaged by Pierre de Coubertin, the Frenchman who revived the Games 130 years ago in Paris. Neither are they the amateur affair he originally envisaged, as evidenced by the rampant commercialism surrounding the event. The Olympics is a global spectacle that can leave cities with vast rewards or in financial ruin. Right now, most Parisians would probably be relieved if the Games simply pass by without disaster.
Olympic host cities: the winners and losers
Winners
Los Angeles, 1984
One of the very few Olympic Games to actually turn a profit. After Tehran withdrew its bid when the Shah of Iran was overthrown, Los Angeles was the only viable contender. Organisers extracted favourable terms from the International Olympic Committee and were able to rely on existing sports stadiums and facilities. TV revenue and commercial sponsors proved highly lucrative.
Barcelona, 1992
In the early 1990s Barcelona was in Madrid’s shadow; it had, for example, fewer than half the number of tourists compared with the Spanish capital. Following a Games which used the city as its backdrop and involved large-scale urban renewal, tourism soared. It is now one of the popular destinations in Europe – and has more visitors than Madrid.
London, 2012
Many previous Olympics left a legacy of neglected or useless venues. London 2012 was different, using a combination of temporary buildings and repurposed new ones for life after the Games. While it helped regenerate a neglected part of east London, it wasn’t perfect. Ambitious plans to deliver affordable housing were never fully realised, neither was a hoped-for increase in sports participation.
Losers
Montreal, 1976
No Olympics has so utterly broken a city. The bill for the Games came in at 13 times higher than original estimates. There were a string of corruption scandals as well as construction chaos and a grandiose stadium with no full-time tenant. The city eventually paid the eye-watering bill – 30 years after the closing ceremonies.
Athens, 2004
The public was promised an “unforgettable, dream Games” – but taxpayers ended up saddled with nightmare debts. Construction delays, massive security and huge cost overruns saw the bill spiral to about €13 billion within a year. Today, many former venues are abandoned, weed-strewn and decaying.
Rio de Janeiro, 2016
Organisers promised “no white elephants” and plans to turn Olympic facilities into public amenities and schools. Within months the host city’s legacy was decaying rapidly, with boarded-up stadium entrances and abandoned facilities against the backdrop of a financial crisis.
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