26.6.17

1924 - 2024


Paris was trying to … but didn’t get the 2012 Olympic Games. Now there is a new serious try and the hopes are great that the 2024 Summer Games will take place in Paris. The decision by the Olympic Committee is expected in September. 
It would be a 100 years’ jubilee – here are a few photos from the Paris games in 1924, and we can see Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937), “the father” of the modern Olympic Games, and two multiple gold medal winners, Johnny Weissmuller (1904-1984) and Paavo Nurmi (1897-1973).  
Paris also had the more modest Games in 1900, the second Games after the very first ones in Athens in 1896. The swimming took place in the Seine River. The intention is to make the 2024 Games very ecological and part of the challenge is that some swimming events (triathlon, 10 km race…) again will take place in a clean(er) Seine River.  (From 1900, we can here also see the winner of a hurdle race and the first individual female Olympic Champion, Charlotte Cooper.)
The “24” logo can now be found a bit everywhere, including on the walls of the Montparnasse Tower.

Last Friday and Saturday, June 23-24, some special promotional events had been organised. The most spectacular feature was perhaps the 100 meters floating track, to be found between the Alexandre III and the Invalides Bridges. A race was organised – for fun - with some actual and past Olympic French athletes… followed by other races between schoolkids. .

The races were watched by a large number of young kayakers, who had made their way down the River.   
A special diving board had been prepared on the Allexandre III Bridge… and some divers made it into the River. (Sorry, my photos are lousy… One issue with these events is that unless you are part of the official “Press”, it’s almost impossible to find a place from where you can watch and take decent photos!)

The lawns in front of the Invalides offered an initiation to different team sports. I could recognise one or two well-known “instructors”.

Schoolkids were all over the place!

In front of the Petit Palais we could watch some bikers…


… and the following day, Saturday, I found other bikers, younger or older, who for a few hours had got the right to make a number of tours around the Arch of Triumph. 


























Back “home”, I discovered that in “my” park, the pedestals which have been empty since the WWII years, now had got some new “statues” in the Olympic spirit.   

2 comments:

Shammickite said...

I hope that the Olympic dreams of Paris will come true in 2024, and I also hope that I shall still be here to watch everything going on on the telly! I love the new statues in the park.

Anonymous said...

Flirting with victory, eh? And why not? After all, isn't the protagonist the proverbial City of Light? I'm not one bit surprised!

Love this classy and creative display (hint?) of how the French can handle (host?) the 2024 games, and I sincerely wish they get it...

The only caveat:
How could they install anything in "your" park without your permission?

Thank you, Peter
Maria