Will there be another Paris Olympics?

Concerns and Issues at the 2024 Summer Olympics

The 2024 Olympics marks the 100th anniversary of the last Paris Olympics. The IOC has successfully marred its history by conducting the worst Olympics to date. Every four years, the IOC has wasted billions of dollars on mediocre results. The 2024 Olympics was no different; Paris Olympics has shown how it was unviable in three key aspects: economic, social, ecological. The focus on ecological, social, and economic aspects aligns with a widely recognized framework for evaluating the sustainability of the Olympic Games. As outlined by Müller et al. (2021), the sustainability of the Olympics can be systematically assessed across these three dimensions.

Müller and colleagues believe that a sustainable Olympic Games limits its ecological and material footprint, enhances social justice, and demonstrates economic efficiency. These three dimensions can be used to not only showcase sustainability of the event but also to showcase the multi-facial success. I will examine the Paris Olympics under the same scope in order to  better understand the implications regarding ecological concerns, social inclusion, and economic efficiency. 

Figure 1 from Müller et al. (2021) illustrates the conceptual model of sustainability in the Olympic Games.

The 2024 Olympics will cost $8.8 billion to organize. The 2024 Olympics is particularly eco-conscious, declaring that they would not build new venues but would use existing cultural heritage sites. This means they won't create any unnecessary carbon emissions. They also promised to offset their carbon footprint by planting 100 million trees. In addition, they said they were preparing for a global festival of equality without discrimination based on gender, race, or disability, but tickets to the Olympics were too expensive for everyone, and the state took the initiative to raise transportation fares, and fees for the Eiffel Tower and Louvre were increased. France declared that they wanted to make the Olympics less expensive, greener, and more equal, but people didn't like it. 

Organizers of the Olympic Games have said they are "sorry" that scenes in Friday's opening ceremony caused offense. In particular, a banquet sequence featuring drag performers drew criticism from Christian groups who said it parodied Leonardo da Vinci's painting "The Last Supper. The famous 15th-century work depicts a key biblical scene. The Catholic Church in France was among the critics, saying the ceremony included "scenes of ridicule and mockery of Christianity". The ceremony's artistic director said there was no intention to "mock or denigrate anyone" and explained that the scene in question was meant to refer to pagan gods. 

In addition, the Vatican on Saturday expressed sadness over the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. "The Holy See was saddened by certain scenes at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games and cannot but join the voices deploring the attacks that have been perpetrated in recent days against many Christians and followers of other faiths," the Holy See said. "At a prestigious event that brings the whole world together around common values, there should be no insinuations that mock the religious convictions of many people," he said. "Freedom of expression is certainly not out of the question, but it has its limits in respect for others," he added. The performance was criticized for its depiction of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, which was seen as disrespectful to religious beliefs. Thomas Jolly, the event's artistic director, defended the controversial performance, arguing that it was not a reenactment of The Last Supper, but rather a depiction of a pagan festival. 

Furthermore, Paris Olympic organizers have promised to keep the temperature in the athletes' village six degrees cooler than outside by pumping and circulating cold groundwater and installing fans powered by clean energy to reduce their carbon footprint. But with temperatures in Paris expected to soar into the 40s in late July when the Games begin, there are complaints about the lack of air conditioning. The French Meteorological Service has said that temperatures in France are above normal this summer, making the Paris Games hotter than the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was the hottest Olympics in history, raising concerns that athletes could suffer cramps, fatigue, heat exhaustion, and even death. In response, wealthy countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Australia, and Japan have stepped in to help pay for air conditioning to help athletes get a good night's sleep. The Korean Sports Association has decided to provide cooling vests and mats for its athletes. "We respect the sustainable and eco-friendly goals of the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee," the US team said, "and our athletes know that air conditioning is a critical component to their performance and success at the Olympics." 

And to top it all off, the triathlon venue at the Paris Olympics made the response even worse. The idea of holding events such as the triathlon in the Seine at the Paris Olympics has been met with suspicion. Swimming in the Seine has been illegal for more than a century because the water quality is so poor. Paris's old infrastructure can't handle heavy rainfall, so during storms, sewage literally seeps into the watershed. The sewage contains bacteria. When bacteria-laden fecal matter flows into the Seine, it contaminates the water in the Seine. France spent $1.5 billion to fix the problem before the Olympics, which were to include men's and women's triathlon swimming events and a swimming marathon on the banks of the historic river. Water pollution levels were dangerously high for most of the spring and summer, and it rained unusually in Paris. It's still a big problem today, and if the games were held on the Seine, the health of the athletes would likely suffer. 

A female boxer who recently faced questions about her gender identity won her first fight at the Paris Olympics on Thursday. Algeria's Imane Khelif defeated Italy's Carini after Carini stopped the fight just 46 seconds into the bout. After only a few punches were exchanged, Carini stopped the fight, avoided Khelif's handshake and collapsed to the floor in tears. Khelif's participation in women's boxing at the Olympics has come under scrutiny in recent days after reports surfaced that she, along with Taiwan's Lin Yueting, failed gender eligibility tests at last year's Women's World Boxing Championships in New Delhi. At the time, sports officials claimed the two boxers failed unspecified tests because they had male chromosomes. Khelif, 25, has always competed as a woman, including at the Tokyo Olympics, and shows no signs of being labeled transgender or intersex. The theme of the Paris Olympics was equality, but people don't think it's equality in this way. 

In my opinion, the Paris Olympics was not very good and go as far as to say the worst Olympics in history. There wasn't enough money to fund the Games, so the cost of transportation and living in Paris alone was high, and the opening ceremony had a theme of equality, but most people found it bizarre, offensive, and as a Christian, I found it blasphemous. It must have been very hard for the athletes to not have air conditioning in their rooms and on the buses in the name of being environmentally friendly. In the case of the triathlon, I don't think it was even a proper venue. For many people, the Paris Olympics will not be remembered fondly.

Halpert, Rachel Looker and Madeline. Kamala Harris Challenges Donald Trump to Debate at Georgia Rally. 31 July 2024, www.bbc.com/news/articles/c51y4zvgv28o.