Paris Will Host the 2024 Olympics. Now, France Has to Ensure They ’re Safe

The timing in Paris early Friday morning could hardly have been more ominous. As the Mayor of Paris and top French officials were on a flight from Lima, Peru, where the International Olympic Committee had awarded them the right to host the Summer Games in 2024, events were unfolding on the ground. As the airplane approached Paris, a man wielding a knife lunged at a soldier in the heart of the city, in the heavily used Chatelet Metro station, while expressing support for ISIS, according to police. The timing was almost certainly unintended, and the attacker arrested before he inflicted any injuries. And yet, the assault served as a telling reminder—if any was needed—of a crucial question that will loom over the city ahead of August 2024: Just how safe will the Paris Olympics be? Of course, these Games are still seven years away. But officials say they are already intently working on how to properly secure Paris for the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people they expect to pour into the city for the Olympics. The effort is particularly focused on the 35 sporting arenas where the Olympics will take place—including beach volleyball at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, swimming and rowing on the Seine River, and horse-jumping at the Chateau of Versailles. Another major site will be the Olympic Village, planned for about 14,500 athletes, that will be built in the low-income, northeast district of Seine-Saint-Denis. “We know that the Games constitut...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized France Source Type: news