2024 Olympics: 140 to 170 boats will carry 10,000 athletes down the Seine to the opening ceremony

The contours of the famous opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, scheduled for July 26, 2024 on the Seine, are gradually becoming clearer. Between 140 and 170 boats will be hired to carry 10,000 athletes during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics, an unprecedented maritime parade on the Seine. “This is a huge problem, which will be to get 140 to 170 boats from the east of Paris, on the outskirts of Ivry, and deliver them from the Austerlitz bridge to the Trocadero,” the message says. On Thursday, the prefect of the region, Marc Guillaume, during a speech before the regional council of Île-de-France.

Between the desire to offer the world an exceptional event and the imperative of safety, the preparation of the parade turns out to be a headache for the organizers. As well as the number of spectators (between 400,000 and 600,000), the number of boats is also a subject of discussion.

“When the Greek ship”, according to the Olympic tradition, “arrives at the Trocadero, the French ship that will sail last will probably not leave yet,” illustrated Marc Guillaume, highlighting “the logistical problem that needs to be solved so that 10,000 athletes can with pontoons board all those boats in eastern Paris.”

With regard to the need for private security guards for the competition venues, estimated at 25,000 by Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, the prefect now has a goal of “training and recruiting about 15,000 people”. At the end of February, only 3,000 of these agents had been hired, and 1,800 were being trained.

Decontamination of the Seine and liberation of Port Mayo by the start of the Games

But “by September, we are going to call 56,000 job seekers who are employed in the field of private security or who have been looking for a job for more than two years,” Marc Guillaume said. Together with the regional council, the prefecture is looking for “a different audience, students, youth from priority areas.”

At the sites that are preparing for the Games, those related to the cleaning of the Seine will be “performed”, Marc Guillaume confirmed. Cleaned “by 2% two and a half years ago”, this summer the level of cleaning of the river will reach “60-65%”, which will allow test events stand”, the goal is “level 75%” for the Olympic Games.

The prefect also reassured us regarding the sections of the extension of line 14 and RER E, which are causing concern. “The entire Porte Maillot will be released by the start of the Games,” he said.