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PARIS: France is ready to host the Paris Olympics, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday as he visited the Olympic Village four days before the Games opened.
“We are ready and will be ready throughout the entire period of the Olympic Games,” Macron said.
“We have been working for years to prepare for the Olympics and now we are in a decisive week where we have the opening ceremony on Friday and then the Olympic Games, which will be held in Paris 100 years after the last Olympics.”
He added: “This is the result of a huge amount of work which has profoundly transformed the country, especially the Seine-Saint-Denis region where the Olympic Village is located.”
IOC President Thomas Bach also visited the Olympic Village in the north of the French capital, where thousands of athletes and officials are expected to arrive and the number is expected to reach 14,500 at the peak of the Games.
The complex consists of 40 different low-rise residential buildings, built using innovative construction techniques, using low-carbon concrete, water recycling and recycled building materials.
The venue was originally planned to have no air conditioning and instead use a natural cooling system, but some Olympic delegations were not convinced and ordered about 2,500 portable cooling units for the athletes.
Seine-Saint-Denis, home to the main Olympic athletics venues and France’s poorest region, hopes to benefit from the sporting event.
Macron promised that the region would not be forgotten after the Olympics.
He said: “After the Games, I will come back and look back with you at the legacy of the Games and see how life has changed.”
– Israelis ‘welcome’ –
Meanwhile, France’s foreign minister said Israeli athletes were welcome to compete in the Paris Olympics after a far-left French parliamentarian sparked outrage by calling on Israeli athletes not to compete over the Gaza conflict.
“France welcomes the Israeli delegation,” Stéphane Sejonna said in Brussels ahead of talks with his Israeli counterpart, adding that a call by France Invictus (LFI) lawmaker Thomas Portes to exclude Israel was “irresponsible and dangerous.”
“We will ensure the safety of the delegation,” added Sejon.
Portes has drawn angry reactions from French Jewish groups as well as political opponents and allies.
Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (Crif), said the comments were “directed at Israeli athletes.”
Alfi said Israeli athletes “are already the most dangerous athletes at the Olympics,” recalling the 11 athletes who were “killed by Palestinian terrorists” at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Meanwhile, French security forces were continuing to prepare for Friday’s unprecedented opening ceremony, the first time the Summer Olympics will be held outside the main stadium.
Between 6,000 and 7,000 athletes will travel down the river on 85 barges and boats, with monuments such as the world-famous Notre Dame Cathedral, which is currently undergoing renovations after a devastating fire in 2019, as a backdrop.
The athletes will get off the bus at the Trocadero, opposite the Eiffel Tower, for the climax of a medal ceremony that organizers promise will be spectacular.
Up to 300,000 ticket holders will watch the game from the stands and on the riverbank, with a further 200,000 expected to watch from the overlooking flats.
Talking about sports, Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar has his sights set on Olympic gold in road cycling after winning the Tour de France for the third time on Sunday.
“We are in the golden age of cycling,” Pogačar said after his dominant victory in Nice, where the finish was moved due to preparations for the Paris Olympics. –AFP
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