Paris Games seeking to restore prestige of Olympics

With the Paris Games set to start one month from today, the ambition of the global event is to “restore the fun, the glitz and the prestige of the Games,” according to Joshua Robinson of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. He noted the stakes are “high” for these Olympics. Over the past decade, the reputation of the Olympics “has taken a beating.” Instead of "delivering a global party every two years," its recent history “has been all turmoil all the time.” From the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, "tainted by a vast Russian doping conspiracy, to 2016’s Summer Games in Brazil -- beset by budget overruns, inefficiency and a pool that mysteriously turned green -- the Games’ global standing fell.” In 2020, the already “wildly expensive and unpopular" Tokyo Games were delayed and then “held under a cloche of intense Covid-19 protocols.” Then came Beijing: "empty arenas, even more invasive Covid restrictions" and the “uncomfortable optics of Olympics held in service to an autocratic regime.” Robinson noted over “one million tickets have been sold” for people who want to attend the Paris Games. The Olympics are not “necessarily for the people at the Games.” Which means a host city “isn’t just a host city -- it’s a giant television sound stage.” That is a role Paris “knows how to play.” Paris Organizing Committee CEO Étienne Thobois said that every camera shot is “designed to look like a postcard.” And wherever possible, venues have been “dropped in front of iconic Paris landmarks.” Robinson noted Paris “hopes to set itself apart in many ways,” but the “most important (and rarest) distinction would be delivering the Games on budget, on time and almost entirely through private funding.” Organizers said that they are “on track to pull it off.” Securing the money “took around 75 local sponsors” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/25).

PARIS READY FOR ITS MOMENT: NBC’s Keir Simmons notes several “iconic parts of Paris have had an Olympic makeover,” including the fact the area under the Eiffel Tower “now has 2,000 tons of imported sand” for the beach volleyball competition. The Opening Ceremony will see countries floating down the River Seine, and NBC’s Savannah Guthrie said, “It truly is going to be something we’ve never seen before.” NBC’s Mike Tirico: “I really think the Olympics need a jump start. It needs something with no COVID, with fans in the stands and that shows off Paris” (“Today,” NBC, 6/26).