DPA
Paris
Paris 2024 organizing committee chief Tony Estanguet said he’s extremely satisfied with the Games in the French capital.
“I think it couldn’t have gone better,” he told the France Inter radio on Monday, a day after the Olympics closing ceremony.
He said he was relieved, happy and proud and that the Games exceeded all expectations, especially because of the fervour of the fans.
“All international spectators said: This is the most beautiful Games in history,” Estanguet said.
“It was a marathon of holding out against pessimists and all those who predicted disaster,” he added.
Estanguet said that the end of the Games made him feel a bit melancholic.
“It feels weird when you thing that it’s done, the the Olympic Games are now in the past,” he said.
The Paris Games officially started on July 26 with the opening ceremony on the Seine and ended with a lavish and futuristic closing ceremony on Sunday and the handover to the 2028 hosts Los Angeles.
In terms of security, French President Emmanuel Macron said that around 100 potential criminal offences were prevented during the Games, while almost 5,600 potentially dangerous persons were taken out of circulation.
Macron didn’t give any further details on the potential offences when thanking the emergency services.
During the Summer Games, 245,000 police officers and gendarmes (military forces with law enforcement duties among the civilian population) were deployed throughout France.
On the closing weekend alone, 30,000 officers were deployed in Paris and the surrounding area.
Macron said that he was already feeling “a bit of nostalgia” after the Games ended.
“There are no more competitions to follow. There is no more enthusiasm every morning,” he said.
Earlier on Sunday, The Paris Olympics ended with a lavish and futuristic closing ceremony.
“The Olympic Games Paris 2024 were Olympic Games of a new era,” International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said.
He praised them as “an amazing stage” with “iconic venues” in which the fans created “an overwhelming atmosphere.” “These were sensational Games from start to finish - or dare I say, Seine-sational Olympic Games from start to finish,” said Bach at the end of the third Games in the French capital, the others being in 1900 and 1924.
The reference, which only drew a lukewarm response, was to the city’s river which played centre-stage at the opening ceremony and the site of the triathlon swimming legs and open water swimming - after plenty of water quality concerns.
The three-hour show at the Stade de France featured 270 performers and acts including French bands Phoenix and Air, plus Billie Eilish, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg in the handover part to LA who dazzled the stadium crowd and billions more around the world via TV and livestreams.
Athletes partied so hard in the arena that stadium announcements were needed at some stage for them to clear the stage.
