Paris 2024: The one year countdown begins!

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00:00 Well let's talk now to Professor of Olympic Studies at Canterbury, Christchurch University,

00:04 Dikai Chatzis-Stachi, who's also author of the book Discourses of Olympism from the Sorbonne

00:10 1894 to London 2012.

00:13 Thanks very much for joining us on the programme today.

00:15 So a year to go, it's a huge, huge process this isn't it, getting everything ready.

00:21 Will Paris be ready do you think and how hopeful are you for the spectacle being planned?

00:27 It is always a challenge one year before the Olympics.

00:33 And maybe the cold sweats that the organisers had just before the Athens Olympics, Athens

00:41 2004.

00:43 And also I work in the UK and we also had a lot of pressure and stress before the London

00:49 2012 Games, particularly in relation to security.

00:53 There were some hiccups in relation to security just before the start of the Games.

00:58 So yes, I understand that there are a lot of challenges, but I think that Paris, Paris

01:04 will be ready.

01:07 There was a world briefing, security briefing just a few days ago, 20th and 21st of July,

01:16 to address particularly the issues of security.

01:19 I think this would be the biggest challenge for Paris 2024 for several reasons.

01:26 I think the biggest reason is because it is the first ever Olympic Games to be actually,

01:33 to have the opening ceremony as part of the city.

01:37 So this is the very first time.

01:40 So it will come with a lot of challenges.

01:43 Some were very much against this because of the cost of the security to do something so

01:49 big that immerses the city into the Games.

01:54 It's said to be very different, isn't it?

01:55 As you mentioned, the opening ceremony along the Seine, we've also got a lot of the events

01:59 happening right in the centre by the Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde, Palais de Versailles

02:04 as well.

02:05 Yes, exactly.

02:06 It's the very first time.

02:08 But I think there is a tradition with the Games in France, the Olympic Games in France,

02:13 to always have some kind of novelty.

02:16 For example, in 1924 Olympic Games, it was the very first time that we had the Olympic

02:21 Village.

02:23 So that was a novelty at the time.

02:26 Then in Chamonix were the very first Winter Olympics.

02:29 So I think France has been kind of always a pioneer in some aspects.

02:36 And the kind of trademark for these Olympics is, can we actually do this?

02:42 Can we make the Olympics be so immersive and so sustainable as well?

02:49 This is another aspect of Paris 2024 is they want to be sustainable.

02:55 The budget is lower than the Tokyo one.

02:59 The Tokyo budget was 11 billion, the official budget.

03:03 The London 2012 was 9 billion, whereas the Paris one is 8 billion, trying to make it

03:10 sustainable.

03:11 Will they make it?

03:13 It's a question because of the inflation rates as well.

03:18 There are a lot of challenges in keeping this original figure.

03:22 We know that some of the operational costs are already higher than the ones that they

03:26 had scheduled.

03:29 But so far, it seems that this original budget could be according to plan.

03:34 But I think they will spend much more on security.

03:38 You mentioned "can we" just a moment ago was a little phrase you used.

03:42 Another thing I know you're very passionate about is ensuring that the Games have a legacy

03:45 for a country as well.

03:47 I mean, do you think France will be able to do that with these Games?

03:51 Yes, I think we need to be also very realistic in terms of all these promises that make it

03:58 a legacy.

04:02 With my university, as I said, Canterbury Crisis University, we've done a big study

04:06 in terms of legacies, in relation to London 2012, but also in relation to the Olympic

04:12 and Paralympic Games more generally.

04:14 One of the biggest kind of excuses, let's say, for hosting the Olympics and the Paralympics

04:21 is the legacies.

04:23 But our research has actually shown a few things that there is not always a guaranteed

04:31 legacy, especially in terms of sports participation.

04:35 We have the so-called demonstration effect, which means that if somebody doesn't do sport

04:41 before, the chances of actually doing sport by only watching the Games or by being inspired

04:48 from the Games, it doesn't work.

04:50 So you need to have certain strategies, policies, and kind of a framework to be able to succeed

04:58 that.

04:59 And many times this is not in place.

05:02 And if you need to have this in place, most likely is that you will have some people who

05:07 do sport to just do a bit more and some people who used to do sport and they have stopped

05:13 to be re-inspired to come back into sport.

05:17 I'm going to have to interrupt you at that point.

05:19 Thanks very much for joining us on the programme.

05:20 I do apologise we've run out of time, but Dikai Chatsy, thank you for joining us there.

05:26 Thanks very much, Olympics expert.

05:28 Thank you for talking to us after your book there.

05:31 a lot more coverage coming up here on Friday.

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