Sweat, screams, tears, sports and songs all summer long. But there’s more! The Paris Games are doing it again on Saturday and are offering an “after” on the Champs-Elysées with a parade of athletes and a giant concert.
The temporary stands are being dismantled all over Paris, the now famous Phryges mascots are being sold off, the director Thomas Jolly is “in full descent” after having orchestrated four ceremonies. But the Olympic party continues.
“Even if we’re a little tired, we’re happy to be back,” explains Thierry Reboul, director of ceremonies, looking a little crumpled. The idea was popular because the 70,000 free places to reserve were snapped up in an hour on Wednesday.
More than 4,000 police officers and gendarmes will be mobilized to secure the event, according to the resigning Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin.
An anti-terrorist protection perimeter (Silt) prohibited to anyone without tickets, with exceptions (residents, doctors, etc.), will be set up around the parade area, as well as a perimeter prohibiting motorized traffic, specified the Paris police prefect, Laurent Nuñez. “Traffic in the Paris-Ouest zone” will be “very complicated tomorrow (Saturday),” he warned, calling for people to avoid the area.
Shops will also be closed on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, he said.
– Three hundred athletes –
The athletes will parade along the top of the avenue.
The man who started the gold medal count for France with rugby sevens, Antoine Dupont, will be there, alongside judoka Teddy Riner and swimmer Léon Marchand, who has become one of the stars of these Olympics. But also fencer Manon Apithy-Brunet and triathlete Cassandre Beaugrand.
Nearly 300 athletes, out of the approximately 800 members of the Olympic and Paralympic delegations, are expected on the Champs.
This legendary avenue has often served as a place of celebration, particularly for the French football team. The last parade, in 2018, frustrated thousands of people when the Blues, world champions in Russia, rushed down the avenue by bus to reach the Elysée.
On Saturday, everything will be held outdoors – the weather forecast predicts very cool temperatures, but sunny weather – including the presentation of decorations to the medal winners, a tradition that usually takes place at the Elysée.
The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron and other already distinguished champions will be able to decorate their peers. There are 170 of them eligible for the Legion of Honor or the National Order of Merit.
– “Best of the ceremonies” –
Also expected on the Place de l’Etoile are Olympic stakeholders, such as public officials, volunteers, members of the organizing committee (Cojo), between 8,000 and 10,000 people in total. The internal security forces, mobilized en masse throughout the summer, will be there to secure this final celebration.
For the evening concert, a large stage will be set up around the Arc de Triomphe.
Several artists who made their mark on the opening and closing ceremonies will be there, such as Marc Cerrone, singers Chris (Christine and the Queens) and Lucky Love, the duo Amadou and Mariam, and mezzo-soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel, who sang the Marseillaise at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 26.
There will be a “best of the ceremonies”, with images projected on the monument, Thierry Reboul specified. And the evening will end with a “DJ set” from 11 p.m. to midnight.
France Télévisions will broadcast the parade and the concert and TF1 will make a special broadcast.
Once the soundtrack has died down, it will be time for the organisers to spend several weeks poring over the latest bills and accounts.
The Cojo also specified that the cost of this parade-concert, the principle of which had been announced by the President of the Republic during the Olympic Games, would be shared between the various stakeholders of the Games and the partners.
At the end of 2023, the Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, announced the principle of a law including measures on the legacy of the Olympic Games, part of which could be inspired by a report made by the former Minister of Sports Marie-George Buffet and Stéphane Diagana in December 2023.
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