Paris 2024: Who needs the Olympic Games?

After the initial wave of enthusiasm followed by heated discussions about whether the official mascot looks like a clitoris, serious questions regarding the organization of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics are finally being asked. Less than a year before the opening ceremony, officials began discussing if France could host all the tourists expected to come next summer. However, the response to the first proposed measures is far from great joy.

Since the estimated cost to provide sufficient transportation for tourists amounts to 200 million euros, the president of the Île-de-France region, Valerie Pécresse, announced that public transport ticket prices will almost double during the Games. Single metro journeys will cost 4 euros compared to a current cost of 2.10 euros. “Parisians paying this cost is out of the question,” Pécresse said in a video published on November 27 on X to issue a statement justifying the drastic price increase. The solution will bypass holders of monthly and annual passes, but it might affect occasional passengers who use public transport only when there is no choice. In other words, city residents who are either avid pedestrians or cyclists.

Regardless of ticket prices, nobody in France believes public transport could be ready for the Olympic Games given its current state. In early December, a water leak paralyzed a regional train network (RER) of critical importance for movement within the region (including the line serving as the primary means of transport to the airport). In an interview for the Quotidien program, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, stated that the city would not be ready for the Games. Although Valerie Pécresse dismisses these implications, her plan to encourage prioritization of remote work so as not to overload transport leaves the residents of the Parisian region skeptical.

The list of how the Olympics will negatively impact the lives of Parisians is longer than that. Particular areas will be restricted. Only those with QR codes will be able to move around. The opening ceremony will make history by taking place on the Seine as well as being a widely criticized inconvenience. Wide traffic ban perimeter will concern not only the river banks but also residential buildings and businesses in the vicinity. This includes the river booksellers, the emblem of the Parisian landscape, many of whom have to relocate their stalls for the Olympic Games. Even though authorities say the decision, motivated by security concerns, is temporary, locals consider it outrageous. After all, why should the centuries-old tradition knuckle under tourists?

The river booksellers are not the only ones forced to move for the Games. The authorities also planned to requisition certain dorm rooms to accommodate staff working at the event. Though the court ruled in favor of the students, finding the decision illegal and violating their rights, moving out seems inevitable. Sylvie Retailleau, French Minister for Higher Education and Research, announced that the state intends to compensate for the inconvenience by offering those concerned 100 euros and two tickets to sporting events. Representatives defending the students find the proposition ridiculous and inappropriate.

Organizations helping people in need equally raise concerns about those struggling with homelessness, whose number is constantly increasing. The authorities have begun to vacate Paris of those living on the streets, but measures to attain the goal remain questionable. Police officers swarm tent cities and squats without any prior notice and put the houseless inhabitants into buses bound for other departments that often are not able to provide them with adequate assistance. The Prefecture already prohibited food distribution in some areas of Paris to prevent the people experiencing homelessness from settling down in the city. It’s also believed that the authorities will force medical centers helping people in need to close during the Olympic games. The state seems to be equally indifferent to the situation of undocumented immigrants employed in the construction of Olympic facilities and denied fundamental labor rights. At the same time, the French government has passed the controversial immigration bill with the most support coming from right-wing parties fervently stoking anti-immigrant sentiments.

Bedbugs are not the only thing to be worried about when coming to Paris. Safety has drastically deteriorated over recent years. The police consider pickpockets and scammers a minor threat to public safety. Despite the common knowledge that these are entire gangs that have made it their business, the authorities abstain from initiating any proceedings. Thieves and grifters are aware of tacit consent to their activities. Getting off scot-free every time has made them grow more audacious. They no longer stick to streets or metro stations, stealing inside restaurants, cafes, and small businesses, even if supervised. Scammers may follow pickpockets, claiming they are police officers offering to help file a report to steal personal data from the victim. Physical assaults are not rare. Because of its omnipresence, petty crime has become unbearable. Nothing attracts pickpockets and scammers more than the influx of tourists to major events such as Roland Garros. For that reason, many Parisians expect it will be the same, if not worse, during the Games.

The security concerns go further. The scope of sexual assaults is alarming. Less than one year before the Olympic Games, the Parisian police remain unable to ensure security in one of the most touristic places in the city center. Several rapes and attempted rapes occurred only in the Eiffel Tower area, with the most recent case reported in October 2023. At the same place, a German tourist was killed in a knife attack in early December. Homicides are the last thing on the list of possible safety concerns tourists might have, and without a doubt, the authorities will put effort into making them even less likely to happen this summer. Nevertheless, politicians can’t succeed in convincing public opinion that Paris will be ready.

Parisians are not looking forward to hosting the event, predicting a fiasco with many already planning how to escape the foreseen apocalypse. There are two scenarios regarding how the Olympic games may finally play out. In the first scenario, probably expected by most, the authorities will fail to prepare Paris for the event. Public opinion would lambaste overcrowded public transport and a sudden, drastic decline in safety in the city. The police would focus solely on guarding the Olympic facilities to ensure that what happens outside the ticket zones would stay invisible. The authorities, aware of the failure, would downplay the situation to announce a great success. But the feeling of anger would linger long after the end of the Games, coming in handy for politicians willing to defy the incumbent officials. 

In the other scenario, the authorities would go to great lengths to mitigate potential negative consequences and appease residents of the capital region. Crime rates would unexpectedly drop as the police would suddenly become efficient. Intensive work on public transport carried out in a short period would prove sufficient to survive the Olympic Games and ensure the city’s functioning would be at least sufferable. The authorities would fulfill their promises to a satisfactory degree, fending off possible criticism from public opinion. History has already witnessed similar miraculous Olympic transformations. Perhaps many Parisians would appreciate such a determined shift. At the same time, it would come out as a clear message to French people that their problems don’t matter unless it’s for a publicity stunt.