“We are working on a plan A and in plan A there is also all the confidence that we have in the professionalism of the teams working on security”, explained Tuesday to AFP the mayor PS Anne Hidalgo, since Olympia after the flame lighting ceremony, a great supporter since the beginning of a popular ceremony along the Seine.
Several sources close to the matter told AFP that the Paris police headquarters was not planning on a possible withdrawal to the Stade de France. The Trocadéro, also mentioned by the President of the Republic, where heads of state from around the world must meet at the end of the show and the parade of delegations on the Seine, has already been mentioned behind the scenes by several sources at the 'AFP.
It “seems impossible to move a ceremony like that given the deadline,” a senior official recently assured, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Next stage of communication on the Ministry of the Interior side: details on the security conditions along the Seine for the seven days before the opening ceremony and the terms of access near the river via QR codes for local residents, trader and passers-by.
What ceremony at the Stade de France?
The executive has been repeating for months that the Stade de France, which will host the closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, could not be a fallback plan. Heard on January 17 by the Senate, the interministerial delegate to the Olympic Games Michel Cadot had clearly excluded the scenario of a ceremony at the Stade de France.
Indeed, from Wednesday July 24, rugby sevens events take place, some competitions begin before the official opening on Friday July 26, making a show impossible.
According to a source in the file, in the event that the ceremony was ultimately held at the Stade de France, it would in reality be a purely protocolary ceremony, without the artistic dimension, to officially pronounce the opening of the Olympics.
Multiple unknowns
In the event of a withdrawal, will there be an audience?
The Stade de France seats 65,000 in ceremony configuration. Currently, around 100,000 paying tickets have been sold to watch the opening ceremony from the lower quays of the Seine. Who would compensate the spectators? What financial consequences for the organizing committee? What do insurance cover?
“If there were the public we couldn’t do this overnight,” confides a source close to the matter. On the other hand, the scenario of a skeletal ceremony without an audience “would not be complex to put together”, assures a security source.
The State, the IOC and the organizers are very keen on this unique ceremony outside the stadium, intended to dust off the traditional Olympic high masses, and which will project six kilometers of postcards from Paris on TVs around the world.
If it were not to take place, it would be a great disappointment for all those involved.
“Big ideas are always ambitious, and are not easy to achieve. Paris has done a lot to push the boundaries but when they brought the idea of the ceremony on the Seine? the world was not in the same state politically “, explained to AFP Michael Payne, former marketing manager of the IOC. “It wouldn’t be the first time that there has been a last minute change for a ceremony,” he also observes.
