The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are only a year away, but many French cities refuse to host the Olympic torch relay for financial reasons.
The eyes of the world will turn to France in July 2024, when the Summer Olympic Games kick off with a spectacular opening ceremony on the Seine River.
Earlier, the Olympic torch will embark on a two-month journey across the country, after traversing the globe on its way from the Greek Olympus to the French capital.
But this Olympic tradition is becoming a headache for the organizersas cities have said a polite “no merci” to the visit of the Olympic torch relay, citing the high costs involved.
Councils have been asked to shell out 150,000 euros, 180,000 if taxes are included. At least 10 of the 96 metropolitan departments – the administrative rung below the regional level – have already declared that they will not host the torch.
Tensions on the surface
Citizens of the Rhône department in southeastern France, where the country’s third city, Lyon, is located, will not be able to see the torch.
For some it is a source of frustration. In a statement published by the Rhône branch of the young supporters of Emmanuel Macron, “Les Jeunes avec Macron“, the department drew criticism for a decision supposedly made for environmental reasons.
“The narrow-mindedness of environmentalists who confuse the fight against global warming with an ecological puritanism that would prohibit all forms of festive spirit.”
However, these are not the reasons being put forward by the department and the city.“Asking 180,000 euros from each department does not make any sense. Some departments are smaller and others are less robust. It would have been more logical for the regions to organize the funding of the torches at the regional level to guarantee territorial equity”, declared Bruno Bernard, President of Lyon Metropole.
“Naturally, we would have liked to host the flame, but the economic conditions demanded by the Olympic Committee – 180,000 euros for an activity that only lasts one day – seem unreasonable in terms of public action,” he added.
Prioritize local sport
Christophe Guilloteau, President of the Rhône region, spoke out against hosting the flame as early as January 2022.
As he told Euronews, “to this expense must be added that of complementary activities to the torch relay. The Rhône department prefers to invest in local events and support the sports industry in our territory.”
The departments of les Vosges, la Meurthe-et-Moselle, l’Indre-et-Loire, le Lot-et-Garonne, la Creuse, la Haute-Loire et la Haute-Vienne, la Loire-Atlantique, les Côtes-d’Armor et l’Orne have declared that they will not host the flame.
Ludovic Gouyette, Vice President of the Côtes-d’Armor department, told France Bleu Armorique: “This sum is higher than my grants to finance sporting events throughout the year.” The department is located in the north of Brittany.
Why this cost?
The organizing committee of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games ensures that “a vast majority of departments have already accepted” the calladding that the 150,000 euros guarantee that the torch will pass through “the maximum number of territories” on its way to Paris.
The committee stresses that the torch relay is funded “for the most part by the committee and its partners,” and claims that he will keep going no matter what.
In January 2023, the French government announced that the public funding part of the Games would increase to 2.4 billion euros.
According to a study, the 2024 Paris Olympic Games could generate 10.7 billion euros in economic benefits and produce 250,000 jobs.
However, the cost of hosting the Olympic Games has skyrocketed in recent years. As fewer and fewer countries choose to host the huge multi-sport event, The International Olympic Committee has called for a reform of the host city selection process.
past glories
France has already hosted the Olympic Games five times, two of them in Paris.
Chamonix, located in the Haute-Savoie department, will host the flame: a historic moment, as the ceremony will take place 100 years after the 1924 Chamonix Olympic Games.
The cities of Grenoble and Albertville also hosted the Winter Games in 1992 and 1968, but they will not revive past glories. Located in the departments of Savoie and Isère, local leaders once again chose to pass up the opportunity to host the flame.
“Hosting the Tour de France has already made it possible to gain visibility among the population”at “a must lower cost”, declared Frédéric Burnier Framboret, Mayor of Albertville in an interview with l’Equipe.
However, the organizers insist that the relay “will offer a unique opportunity to highlight the regions of Francetheir heritage and their savoir-faire… emblematic towns and places will benefit from the focus of the Games to reveal themselves to the world.”
