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OH, great.  Announce to the world -- terrorists included -- what your plans are.  

BTW, Seoul 1988 already included the river Han, Melbourne 2006 also included the Yarra Rv(?) in a big way; and London 2012.  So, NOTHING NEW, Estanguet.

But way to go with this "openness" thing!  

Item: Floating orchestra -- have they checked if any of the musicians can get sea/river-sick and still play at the same time?  :rolleyes:

Item: from the report:  It is claimed that no security obstacles have been identified so far.

Uh-huh. :rolleyes:   How quickly we forget the vaunted Maginot line which the Nazis so easily circumvented. 

I want to see them do this at the dress-rehearsal and see if they have the exact numbers of bodies that will show up on actual Opening and see how the show's total timing goes -- with all the embarkation AND disembarkation at the Trocadero??  

I hope this can learn from this:  

 

 

Edited by baron-pierreIV
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Terrorists already know the games are in Paris.   The Opening Ceremony being so open won't make much difference to the threat - indeed it spreads people out and tightens security across the city rather than focuses it on one venue.

 

Will be interesting to see something completely different and should at least mean a return to the actual Olympic Cauldron we see throughout the games being lit during the Opening Ceremony.

 

Part of me though thinks it ultimately won't happen and when somebody in 2023 looks to cut costs, as often happens a year out, it'll be an obvious thing to move back to the stadium.

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5 minutes ago, Brekkie Boy said:

Part of me though thinks it ultimately won't happen and when somebody in 2023 looks to cut costs, as often happens a year out, it'll be an obvious thing to move back to the stadium.

I kinda get that feeling too.  Plus, right now, I think Estanguet has only surrounded himself with "security people" who will say "yes" to him.  I think they have excluded real pros who think it's a foolish idea.  And in Buenos Aires, it was all concentrated only around the Obelisk -- so easy to secure.  Not here.  

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4 minutes ago, baron-pierreIV said:

I kinda get that feeling too.  Plus, right now, I think Estanguet has only surrounded himself with "security people" who will say "yes" to him.  I think they have excluded real pros who think it's a foolish idea.  And in Buenos Aires, it was all concentrated only around the Obelisk -- so easy to secure.  Not here.  

Actually, Bach says the IOC’s been supportive and to-and-frying with Estanguet since 2018…

Quote

 

Bach said Paris 2024 has recognised the opportunity and challenges of the city-centre spectacle, but expressed his confidence that organisers would be able to hold the event with the security precautions required.

"This Ceremony will be an exceptional experience for all the athletes taking part, but also, and above all, for the people of Paris, for France and for the whole world," Bach said.

"We started discussing this ‘Seine’ option with the Paris 2024 team and its President, Tony Estanguet, after the great success of the Opening Ceremony of the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

“There, over 200,000 people gathered around the iconic Obelisk monument.

“We were all inspired by this magical moment, but we also recognised the challenges it could create.

“Today, I am happy that the French authorities on all levels have carefully considered this opportunity and come to the conclusion this will happen, under the premise of all necessary security precautions.

“The IOC has full confidence in the creativity, flexibility and sense of innovation demonstrated, from the beginning, by the Paris 2024 team.

“They will ensure that the Opening Ceremony is a truly unique and emotional Olympic experience for the athletes, who will be surrounded by the public, being welcomed and celebrated by the French people.

from ATR: Paris 2024 confirms Seine will serve as venue for city centre Olympic Opening Ceremony

 

 

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The official website has an information page about it now:

https://www.paris2024.org/en/ceremony/

Certainly giving the impression they have thought of everything. In the barge pictures, it looks a little like a better version of the Diamond Jubilee pageant on the Thames in 2012, which... didn't provide a great advert for such a concept. But I'm confident this'll be way better, some of the stills look amazing. Interesting that it looks like it'll include a more traditional section with the flame and protocol, with the Trocadero as the 'stadium'. I guess that pretty much confirms that the cauldron would be in or at least near the Eiffel Tower. 

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It certainly is bold and imaginative and it certainly is possible. If Paris 2024 can pull it off, good luck to them.

Yes there have been opening ceremonies on rivers before but never on this incredible  scale.

It would require a massive security operation as you would expect both sides of the entire 6km route would be in sterile spectator areas with multiple security screening points.

Having already suffered multiple mass terrorist and lone wolf attacks, you would expect Paris 2024 and the IOC is not simple going to have open, un-checked and non-security screened spectator areas along the entire 6 kms route from which a terrorist could use a grenade launcher or machine gun from their backpack within the crowds or aimed at the athletes or performers passing by.

Yes they would multiple security-screened spectator areas on both sides of the 6km Seine River route will require massive amounts of funding and resources, security-screening tents and equipment, aside from all the porta-loos, food/drink outlets, first-aid posts required inside and lots of secure fencing.

It’s not only the river participants and athletes at risk, it’s also a high risk of attacks on spectators themselves from terrorists amongst them.

A huge and costly logistical exercise …… but that does not mean it cannot be done.

An imaginative stunning Olympic Opening Ceremony on the Seine River with 600,000 spectators watching.

The mind boggles.

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32 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:

La Carte

51745368559_b28735051e_k.jpg

What can I say - always loved the concept. Even more so as it’s so Seine-centric. The ceremonies crowd are gonna be beside themselves for the next three years though…

It looks for me that it will be either the best opening ceremony of all times, or one of the greatest failures, don't really think there's an in between. Also if this succeed we may start watching more street parade opening ceremonies, that connects LA concept of getting the ceremony between the stadiums, and in brisbane it may as well be a better alternative than having the ceremony with only 50k spectators. As far as it goes, i believe one of the most ambitious ideas i have seen for an opening ceremony, 3 years out, and already feeling hyped

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Presumably the central elements of the ceremony will all be concentrated in one area (as identified by "protocols" on the map as I think the ceremony rules state they have to take place in front of the various dignitaries (and probably paying spectators too, but it'll be the IOC and their guests prioritised!).

 

I did love how Melbourne used the river in 2006 and it does sound like they may be making more of this than it is in a way - essentially it's one ceremonial area with the river then used as the route for athletes and the flame to arrive, with a few added ceremonial elements.   It just happens the ceremony site itself is not a designated stadium.

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I think this would make a lot more sense for the Closing- when all the pressure is off for athletes, officials, volunteers and spectators- when you can just hand the city over for an all night party, and clean things up the next day at your leisure.

It makes zero sense for an opening ceremony, when you need to SAFELY and with minimal effort  get a show over before 16 days of competition. You cant needlessly tire out athletes, or volunteers, or security officials before things even begin.

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It'll be NOT quite the Klepsydra of Athens 2004 -- but the same idea -- except 100+ barges to transport the athletes.  So they can't do the STRICTLY alphabetical march-in then -- since small delegations will be grouped together in combined barges -- and then large delegations will all have barges to themselves.  So, do you let Logistics rule the day  :blink: -- or do you spend more time re-arranging the delegations to the proper alphabetical order for the march into whatever seats they are planning in there at the Trocadero?  It's truly quite nuts!! 

And I take it there won't be a grand show anymore at the Trocadero.  It'll simply be the appearance of the various countries and just get on with the rest of the required protocol?  Already LOOKS SO BORING at this point.  Just an excuse for lack of imagination for a major show -- let's move it out to the open instead so more people can cheer.  Cheer what?? :blink: 

I think they'll realize their folly come Dress-Rehearsal time -- and by then it's too late to scrap the whole nutty idea and just do the entire show at the Stade.  

Edited by baron-pierreIV
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1 hour ago, AustralianFan said:

 

It would require a massive security operation as you would expect both sides of the entire 6km route would be in sterile spectator areas with multiple security screening points.

Having already suffered multiple mass terrorist and lone wolf attacks, you would expect Paris 2024 and the IOC is not simple going to have open, un-checked and non-security screened spectator areas along the entire 6 kms route from which a terrorist could use a grenade launcher or machine gun from their backpack within the crowds or aimed at the athletes or performers passing by.

Yes they would multiple security-screened spectator areas on both sides of the 6km Seine River route will require massive amounts of funding and resources, security-screening tents and equipment, aside from all the porta-loos, food/drink outlets, first-aid posts required inside and lots of secure fencing.

How about these?  

See the source image

How do you protect against these?? 

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20 minutes ago, baron-pierreIV said:

How about these?  

See the source image

How do you protect against these?? 

That’s a topic the military.  The security threat from drones is not new at Olympic Games venues and other events.   I’m sure they the military has something up their sleeve but who knows what that is?

For Paris 2024, it would be another element to the massive security plan and threat assessments and responses that would have to be put in place as happens at Olympic Games events.

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Sydney had the end of the Closing on the Harbour indeed...the CLOSING. The whole city had a public holiday the next day, many people didn't get public transport home until the early morning, the city was a mess and everyone had a hangover! Literally millions turned up.

If they had done the opening it would have been just dumb.

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It seems that the  IOC publicly supports these plans for the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony on the Seine.

That indicates these plans have been in development behind closed doors for some time before now.  So I think the OC plans are more advanced than we think.  They have to be for the IOC to now support this massive radical non-stadium concept for the entire Ceremony.

Ironing out and implementing the finer details and logistics is what they will go ahead with now in the remaining time between now and the Opening Ceremony on 26 July 2024.

It’s shaping up to be a truly historic, paradigm shifting and gobsmacking Opening Ceremony for the ages.

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4 minutes ago, TorchbearerSydney said:

2.5 years.. I am shocked this hasn't all be sorted much earlier. That means they have had 4.5 years of not appointing a ceremony director, not deciding on a venue etc....

Sydney built its cauldron into the stadium for example, that detail must have been settled 6 years before the Games.

They probably had decided at first stade the france, but after watching the possible costs and also wanting to involve people in order to increase PR, they had decided that taking the ceremony out of the stadium to the impressive seine surroundings and the world class architecture, was a better alternative than well... Tokyo and its graveyardesque olympic stadium.

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2 minutes ago, Chris_Mex said:

They probably had decided at first stade the france, but after watching the possible costs and also wanting to involve people in order to increase PR, they had decided that taking the ceremony out of the stadium to the impressive seine surroundings and the world class architecture, was a better alternative than well... Tokyo and its graveyardesque olympic stadium.

Not saying that a traditional stadium ceremony in a packed stade de france was a worse alternative, but saying that if there was one city that could offer this kind of spectacle in such an amazing backdrop, it was paris. And that if it can really make a whole city celebration, it may become the biggest opening ceremony ever seen at an olympics.

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Make no mistake, there has never been an entire Olympic Summer Games Opening Ceremony like this in history.

The whole Opening Ceremony held entirely outside the stadium and on such a scale, 6kms long in such an inclusive way.

What a beautiful setting along the river, the Eiffel Tower

  • 600,000 spectators
  • 6kms long

Truly mind boggling.

 

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