Paris Olympics Organizers Hope Summer Games Will Showcase France’s Modernity, From Gender-Balanced Events to Sustainability Initiatives
variety.comElsa Keslassy International Correspondent It was in the land that took “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” as its motto that women were first allowed to participate in the Olympic Games, in 1900.
This summer, the French capital will come full circle as it hosts the first-ever gender-balanced Olympics. From politicians to business titans to cultural leaders, the most powerful forces in Paris are aligning to make the three weeks of the Games a showcase for the modernity of France.
Tony Estanguet, the gold medal-winning French slalom canoeist who is now president of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, says the event has come a “long way in terms of inclusiveness.” Back in 1900, women athletes made up only 2% of Olympic delegates; this year, women will represent half of the 10,500 competitors arriving from 200 countries to vie for medals.
Planning for these Games came on the heels of the Bataclan terrorist attacks in November 2015 that left 130 people dead. “France submitted a bid to host these Olympics a few months after the 2015 attacks,” Estanguet says.
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