27.6.19

Preparing for 2024 - Place de la Concorde


Paris is preparing for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Place de la Concorde (see previous posts) was empty of cars and full of sports events last Sunday. This picture was of course “stolen” from the net – I did not offer myself any balloon-trip. An amazing thing is that when I passed by Monday noon, almost all was gone, the Place looked normal and the traffic was back.

Here we can see the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, doing some (fake) heavyweight lifting. She is accompanied by Tony Estanguet, three-time Olympic Champion (in canoeing) and who in the meantime had the time to graduate from a top business school … and now is serving as the head of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics organizing committee. 

I show a number of pictures of different sports activities, not all of them yet present during the Olympic Games. People, especially the kids, were offered a first insight in some sports, led by instructors, some actually champions in their respective sports.






There was a symbolic 2024 meter run around the Place. 

Some of the participants were then, by some kind of lottery draw, winning the right to participate in the 2024 Marathon Race. Here we can see the lucky few, together with Tony Estanguet and the French Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, born in Romania, French Champion in swimming, Olympic silver medalist…


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mrs. Hidalgo! I can't believe she deigned come down from her ivory tower!
And thanks to your wonderful photos, I can see a sunny Paris, with a blue sky and lots of people having fun.
Thank you, Peter.
Maria

Studio at the Farm said...

Wonderful photos, Peter - thank you! It looks like everyone was having a good time in that beautiful weather.

Kathryn

claude said...

Magnifique reportage !