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Bonjour, Paris 2024! Olympics begins with Uzbek drums, media buzz and patrol boats

The Main Press Centre is already a hive of activity, the action has kicked off with football and rugby, the future Winter Olympics hosts have been selected, and the ‘City of Light’ is all set for the greatest show on earth. SJA Secretary Philip Barker is soaking up the atmosphere…

By Philip Barker, at the Parc des Princes, Paris

Paris 2024 comms director Anne Descamps, president Tony Estanguet and CEO Etienne Thobois speak to the media at the Main Press Centre (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

As they say here, Enfin le Sport – after seven long years, the sport at Paris 2024 is finally underway.

It was destination Parc de Princes on Wednesday afternoon to see the first Olympic competition in Paris for a century, as Spain beat Uzbekistan 2-1 in the first match of their quest to win the Euros and Olympics in the same year and emulate France who did so 40 years ago.

To add piquancy, this was the very same stadium where Michel Platini and co. had beaten Spain to lift the Euros trophy in 1984.

The stadium wasn’t full by any means although the Uzbeks beating a drum throughout left everyone close by with a headache.

Spain led through Marc Pubill on the half hour, but a penalty given after a VAR decision was converted by Eldar Shomurodov.

This sparked a frenzy of drumming from the Uzbeks. Their repertoire did sound like it included the old Boney M hit ‘Rasputin’ but by that time, my ears had given up.

1-1 at half-time, then Sergio Gomez had a penalty saved before scoring the winner for Spain in the second half.

The Uzbekistan and Spain teams emerge at the Parc des Princes

SJA member Keir Radnedge was among those manfully filing his copy as the aural assault continued even after the final whistle (think vuvuzelas and you’ll get the idea).

Once again, the sports presentation in the stadium catered for the idiot, at one stage even demonstrating how to chant for Uzbekistan or Spain.

Another victory for low-brow thinking, yet we had no announcement or indication of any VAR decision. The ‘Omerta’ continues as decisions were never shown on the big screen.

Many of the British media have now arrived in the city. Among them will be SJA Chair Ashley Broadley in the Press Association office and Committee member James Toney.

The Main Press Centre is at Port Maillot, not so far from the L’Arc de Triomphe so probably closer to the city centre than any in recent times. The International Broadcast Centre is a distance away at Le Bourget.

The media workroom

Transport to the various venues is available by bus from a transport mall. Instead of carrying around a chunky transport guide, it is all on the ‘app’.

It can also tell you the best public transport route for other places in Paris which have Olympic-themed exhibitions and is actually very simple to use.

Tickets for the High Demand tickets such as Opening Ceremony, swimming and basketball are also needed. These come as an alert on your app and the office staff were very patient with one of the older journalists who needed a little more help on this.

Getting some help at the Main Press Centre

Away from the sport, those into their history will love some of the exhibitions currently opening their doors.

There are Olympic exhibitions at Port D’Oree and the Louvre and thanks to the Museum of World Athletics, the five gold medals Paavo Nurmi won at Paris 1924 are on display at the Paris Mint.

The vest Seb Coe wore in 1984 to win 1500m gold is also exhibited as part of a ‘pop up’ at the Westin Hotel. Whether the exhibition will include a picture showing the gesture he made to the British media in the LA Coliseum that day has not been revealed.

Each journalist has also been issued with a ‘Navigo’ card, the Parisian equivalent of the Oyster in London.
Stations close to the Olympic sites have a pink sign which is hard to miss.

For the time being though, some such as Trocadero, Iena, Alma Marceau are closed because these run under the site of the Opening Ceremony which is conducted on the River Seine on Friday.

Giant broadcast cabins looking like sea containers have already been placed at Trocadero to give the BBC and NBC a backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, complete with rings of course.

The quality of the water in the Seine has prompted Olympic minister Amelie Oudea-Castera to don a wetsuit and take the plunge. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also did so last week.

At the Main Press Centre

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron welcomed overseas journalists to the Elysee Palace in an event organised in conjunction with the International Association of Sports Journalists (AIPS).

Over the last couple of days, the International Olympic Committee have been holding their annual session at the Grand Amphitheater.

Invitations to the grand Opening Ceremony at Louis Vuitton headquarters was by invitation to ‘selected’ journalists. The criteria was not revealed.

Over the last few hours, a lot of crews hastened into the Seine press conference room to hear from the group from the French Alps, confirmed as 2030 Winter Olympic Hosts and Salt Lake City, the preferred candidate for 2024.

Both sets of delegates managed to ‘act surprised’ as the decisions were announced.

It is almost 30 years since Salt Lake City was chosen to hold the 2002 Games. In the years that followed, the IOC was rocked to its very foundations by accusations of vote rigging, and inducements to vote.

So much so that they felt compelled to issue a printed “Ethics” manual outlining acceptable conduct. They also expelled some of the worst offenders.

Salt Lake is still conditional incidentally because of a dispute between the IOC and US doping authorities.
All IOC members are styled as ‘volunteers’ albeit they receive rather different treatment to those who are wearing the green and white uniforms here and manning everything from technology desks to transport and first aid points.

In the last few hours, British Olympic Association Chairman Sir Hugh Robertson was elected as an IOC member. A forthright and popular lunch guest of the SJA before 2012, it will be interesting to see just how he adjusts to IOC life where all members are required to take an oath which insists that any decisions taken “are not subject to appeal on my part”.

Organisers also laid on an excursion for journalists to the Olympic Village, where it was possible to view the athletes accommodation including those cardboard beds.

At peak time main dining, they’ll be serving around 60,000 meals each day. They have promised “healthy gourmet and creative food”.

The other figure which seemed to be on the minds of many was just how many ‘unmentionables’ were being made available by the Village Director, Laurent Michaud.

200,000 was the answer which some colleagues seemed to think was a rather conservative estimate.

Incidentally whilst we were digesting this stunning fact, the security police were quite literally making waves in their inflatable RIBs as they patrolled the river which separates the different residential areas in the village.

This is a massive complex which actually overlaps three municipalities. 100 years ago, it was a matter of wooden huts in the Argenteuil region and the biggest news was the presence of a telegraph office.

In 1924, the Games were already underway. By all accounts, the weather was just as hot as we’ve been experiencing here this week. The French have a word for ‘Caniculaire’.

They were dropping like flies in the cross country race, all except Nurmi of course.

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