DThese words have been there for a week. It’s a little more than words that will be needed in the weeks to come. If, since October 28, the Rugby World Cup page has been turned with great satisfaction on the part of the public authorities – rightly on certain points, less on others – it is now the page of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (JOP) that the latter must open fully. Above all, they will have to blacken this page with a story capable of involving a large part of the population, if they want their mantra, “these are the Games for all French people”, does not remain a simple slogan and becomes a reality. Which is far from won.
It has certainly been a while since this Paris 2024 page has been open. That elements of the current story have been inscribed there. But these components of the story mainly had a “technical” dimension. There was talk of progress on construction sites, construction of budgets, development of security measures or transport plans, actions to encourage the practice of sport, particularly within the framework of school, etc.
As essential as they are for the success of the summer 2024 event, all these elements have been listed separately. Their addition does not put into perspective what the Paris 2024 project, in the eyes of public authorities, can represent for the country and bring to it, at a time when it appears singularly fractured.
Risky exercise
Give meaning: the exercise will be political. For this reason, it could be anything but simple. If the Minister of Sports and Olympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, at the forefront for a year and a half, already carries it in part, this political vision of the Games can only be developed at the highest summit of the State.
The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, must however not give the impression that he is trying to pull the wool over his head, but must play collectively. The Paris 2024 Games are, in this case, first and foremost those of… Paris, and therefore of the mayor of the capital, the socialist Anne Hidalgo. Those also from the department of Seine-Saint-Denis (chaired by the socialist Stéphane Troussel) and more broadly from the Ile-de-France region (chaired by Valérie Pécresse, Les Républicains).
If it should be a vector of cohesion, the story about the Games could be overtaken by the hostility that the head of state arouses among some of the French, as evidenced by the whistles that greeted him during the opening of the Rugby World Cup. With the consequence of an anti Macron-anti JOP association – to which is added an anti Hidalgo-anti JOP – while support for the organization of the Games has already deteriorated, as polls have shown. in the middle of the year.
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