Fifteen months before the start of the Paris Games, the schedule for the ceremony is beginning to take shape and the 116 boat drivers in charge of transporting the athletes have been chosen.
That evening, a billion people will observe the Olympic Seine. If the ceremony is already announced as historic, its scenario still remains secret. Some players have nevertheless already been announced, such as the 116 boatmen who will be responsible for transporting the athletes from Austerlitz to the Trocadéro. All pilots will be trained in driving in convoy, the distance between the boats and the navigation speed must be millimetered.
100,000 tickets sold
“I was an athlete, I participated in opening ceremonies, it’s always very strong, atypical moments. Here we are for the first time in an exceptional setting, we want it to last”, notes Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 organizing committee. The Seine will represent six kilometers of festivity. The convoy will pass in front of Notre-Dame de Paris, the Louvre, to go to the Trocadero, facing the Eiffel Tower, place of the magical finale of the ceremony. But according to a shipowner, it could clog up on arrival. In all, 100,000 paying tickets, from 90 to 2,700 euros, will be sold, while hundreds of thousands of spectators are expected to attend, a security challenge.
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