What will Paris 2024 be remembered for?

The Paris 2024 Olympics will be remembered for a long time. Unfortunately, there is more talk about her in connection with scandals and problems than in connection with records. Although there is something to say - after all, 32 world and 125 Olympic records were set at the Games. 

This is remembered much less often than about E. coli in Hay or bedbugs. And it is not "enemy propaganda" or "envious people" who are to blame for this, but France itself. Apparently, the organizers reacted to the task from the position of "we can't help but like it." How is it possible that someone doesn't like something from the made in France brand? The trendsetter, the standard of taste, the cradle of culture and democracy - all this is about France. And in many ways this is true. But, as Shakespeare said, "something is wrong in the Danish kingdom." With all the possibilities, with all the wealth of traditions, with all the cultural and civilizational contribution that France deservedly made, this country under Emmanuel Macron turned into a kind of clumsy version of itself.

Recently, the French media accused Azerbaijan of denigrating the Paris Olympics. Of course, we are glad that we are being read in France, but reprinting news taken from the world's media cannot be considered deliberate defamation. Why there are so many scandals around the Paris Olympics, why there are so many shortcomings in its organization, these are questions not for us, but for the organizers themselves. The current Games were dedicated to "sustainable development", but how sustainable was it?

From the latest news regarding the Paris Olympics, it can be learned that at South Korea's Incheon International Airport, a specially trained dog examines athletes returning from the Games, members of the delegation and their luggage for detection... bedbugs. For prevention purposes, specialists and a sniffer dog will meet passengers from Paris in this format until September 8. Moreover, additional disinfection of aircraft operating flights between Paris and Seoul is being carried out at the airport. This was reported by the Reuters news agency.

The scandal at the start

Let's not talk about the numerous problems identified during the preparation for the Olympics. Because they all made themselves felt at the Games themselves.
The scandals began on the opening day. As reported by the French resource Reinformation.TV 

Many called the opening ceremony blasphemy. A scandal broke out over the LGBT parody of The Last Supper. The publication notes that the conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the scenes of ridicule and mockery of Christianity. The controversy flared up quickly, and some countries began to censor certain moments of the ceremony. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, it became impossible to watch it on the record. France TV deleted its tweet from the ceremony altogether. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin called the incident an expression of freedom...

Former US President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News, called the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris a disgrace. "I am a very broad-minded person. But what they did was a disgrace," he said.

After the scandal broke out, the American telecommunications company C Spire decided to withdraw its advertising at the Olympic Games in Paris. "We were shocked by the ridicule of the "Last Supper" during the opening of the Olympics in Paris. The company will refuse to advertise at these Olympic Games," the press service of C Spire reported.

Everyone was waiting for the Vatican's reaction, and it followed. The Vatican issued an official statement saying that "the Holy See cannot but add its voice to the voices of others who have noted in recent days that many Christians and believers of other religions have been offended by some scenes. At such a prestigious event, which unites common values, one cannot resort to metaphors that present religious beliefs in a ridiculous light."

The opening ceremony was marked by a number of other incidents. So, the Olympic flag was raised upside down. The South Korean national team was presented at the parade as North Korean, which caused a scandal and ended with an apology from the IOC. The International Olympic Committee also had to apologize to Azerbaijan for the boorish comments of the hosts of the French TV channel France 2 during the passage, or rather, the passage of national delegations at the opening of the Olympics.

Hay

Perhaps the second main antihero of this Olympics after Macron was the river. The situation with the state of the water in the Seine has turned into a real drama. Back in April, the independent environmental organization Surfrider Foundation began sounding the alarm about the state of river water. One and a half billion euros were allocated to clean up the river, but nothing has changed. During the competition during the Olympics, many facts of poor health of swimmers after the swim were noted. Dirty water caused health problems for athletes from Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Kazakhstan, Belgium and other countries.

The independent French website Mediapart conducted an investigation and wrote that the analyses of the water quality in the Seine show the real state of affairs, which differs from the encouraging statements of the French authorities. It is noted that daily samples taken by the Eau de Paris laboratory, associated with the Paris City Hall, revealed the facts of contamination that the organizers tried to hide. Mediapart believes that information about water quality was limited by the Paris Mayor's Office and the Organizing Committee of the Games, which increased the opacity of the results and misled the public.

Organization

Spanish specialist Sergio Lopez compared the 2024 Games in Paris with seven Olympic Games in which he participated as an athlete and as a coach. "Of the seven summer Games I've been to, these are the worst. The coach from Australia is of the same opinion. They are the worst, this is the opinion of many. There is nothing to complain about, the conditions are the same for everyone. It's a pity that a country that boasts so much about how it does it holds such Games. I have been to the championships of sub-Asian countries from underdeveloped countries that have achieved more in organizing tournaments. This is my opinion," Lopez is quoted as saying by Relevo.

On a French news site Mostraak.com An article was posted under the headline "The Olympic Village in Paris has turned into a survival camp for athletes." The article notes that in 40-degree heat, there are no air conditioners in the rooms for athletes, and foreign delegations had to urgently import hundreds of portable air conditioners.
Continuing to identify the facts, the French edition stopped at cardboard beds. This piquant piece of furniture has caused complaints and discontent among many. Too concerned about environmental issues, the organizers did not take into account such "little things" as the need for comfort and normal sleep for athletes.

By the way, Italian swimmer Tomas Ceccon, in protest against the lack of air conditioning in the Olympic village, fell asleep on the street right on the ground. A photo was posted on social networks showing that the Olympic champion, who had just won a gold medal, was sleeping on a towel spread out. Six members of the South Korean national swimming team left the Olympic village and settled in a hotel next to the pool in Nanterre, the RMC Sport website reported. The hotel has air conditioning and the pool does not need to be reached in an hour and a half.

The organizers also did a bad job on the arena "Field of Mars", where wrestlers fought in different disciplines. The head of the French Judo Federation, Stephane Nomis, told AFP on the eve of the start of the fights that the arena was not ready. Carpets that were too elastic had to be changed at the last minute, there was dust everywhere. Nomis reproached the Olympic organizing committee for the poor preparation of the arena for the competition.

Food

As you know, athletes should eat well. There were problems with this in Paris too. The same French website Mostraak.com indicates that in addition to the unsatisfactory taste of food and scanty portions, there was also a shortage of some popular products. It got to the point that the British national team had to use their own chef. "The Organizing Committee and its service provider Sodexo claim to have responded by increasing the number and meeting demand. But the damage has already been done. Due to shortages, taste disappointments and endless queues, many athletes now avoid canteens, preferring food delivery or on-site cooking. A heavy blow to the reputation of French gastronomy, which was supposed to be one of the pride of these Games," writes the French resource.

"Food is, to put it mildly, a disaster," Christopher Ruhr, a player of the German national field hockey team, told the DPA news agency. "You wait in line for an incredibly long time, there are incredibly few stations. The quality of the food is not very good either."

The Daily Mail newspaper quotes the head of the British Olympic Association, Andy Anson, who claimed: "There are not enough certain foods: eggs, chicken, certain carbohydrates. In addition, the quality of the food is important, since athletes are served raw meat. Our athletes decided that they would rather eat at our restaurant in Clichy."

Transport

On the opening day of the Olympics, there were problems on the railway. Due to a series of arson attacks on cables and relay cabinets, high-speed trains stopped, 800 thousand people, including athletes, who were on four trains, did not reach their destinations. The authorities have declared sabotage.

Medals

Skateboarder Nige Houston, representing the U.S. national team, said that the medals at the Olympic Games in Paris are of poor quality. He told about it on his social networks. "The medals are great when they are brand new. After I let my friends wear it for the weekend, it started to look worse. Obviously, they are not of such high quality," <url> reports Houston's words.

Houston won the bronze medal in the street skateboarding competition.

Crime

Even a few months before the Olympics, there were talks about the expected security problems. And the problems really didn't take long. From the very first minutes of their stay in Paris, many athletes and guests had a chance to feel it for themselves. 35,000 police and gendarmes, 18,000 military personnel and several thousand employees of private security companies were stationed on the territory of the Olympic facilities. But this did not stop the criminals.

On the day of arrival in Paris, the Australian cycling team was robbed. the athletes wrote about this on social networks, posting photos of their ruined luggage. Not only wallets were stolen from the bus, but also equipment, including a physiotherapist's massage table. Using baggage tag tracking devices, the athletes were able to find some items from their van that were scattered around the local park.

A couple of days before the end of the Games, unknown people took the bag of the Deputy Minister of Sports and Youth Policy of South Sudan with 35 thousand dollars. According to Valeurs Actuelles magazine, we are talking about funds for the maintenance of the country's delegation during the 2024 Olympics. According to the newspaper, the incident occurred at a hotel in the suburb of Villejuif. The official left the bag unattended on one of the tables in the hotel lobby. The bag also contained jewelry, documents, a mobile phone and various passes for access to Olympic venues. Later, the bag was found by the police in the commune of Massy near Paris, but there was no money or jewelry in it.

On the opening day of the Games in Paris, Brazilian football legend Zico was robbed. They took away his suitcase, which contained half a million euros, expensive watches, gold and diamonds. Prior to that, Argentina national team midfielder Thiago Almada was robbed in Paris. 

The footballer's belongings were stolen before the opening round of the group stage of the Olympic football tournament. According to BFMTV, jewelry worth a total of 50,000 euros was stolen from the football player.

Then there was another series of thefts. According to the French publication Le Parisien, a Japanese rugby player's wedding ring and 3,000 euros were missing, and the coach of the Australian national bandy team had his bank card stolen, from which 900 euros were withdrawn. It is noted that no signs of forced entry were found in the rooms of the victims.

Last week, the victims of a robbery in the Olympic village near Paris were the cyclists of the Slovak national team. equipment that was stored in an unlocked locker, dozens of bicycle tires, spare parts and several switches totaling 2.3 thousand euros were stolen from Slovak athletes. If you search the Internet, there will be plenty of such stories.