(Paris) An International Olympic Committee inspection team said it was impressed with the progress of work ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Wednesday, adding that its “level of confidence is very, very high”, and that despite the fact that there are still many unresolved funding and security issues.
“Paris is exactly where it should be 415 days from the opening ceremony,” said Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant, the director of the IOC commission responsible for overseeing the work of the organizing committee.
Construction deadlines for most new Olympic venues are on track, but several auditing officials have warned authorities that they are still unable to quantify the total cost of the 2024 Olympics and their impact on the Olympics. public finances. A budget of 9.4 billion US dollars is planned for the construction of the Olympic facilities and for the organizing committee, and more than a third of this time will come from French taxpayers.
Despite their many outings to reassure the population, doubts persist as to the ability of the organizing committee to recruit enough security guards to ensure the security of the event, without having to mobilize soldiers.
Despite everything, the message relentlessly hammered home by the IOC and the organizing committee at the end of a three-day visit to the French capital by Beckers-Vieujant and his team is dithyrambic.
“What I can say is that we leave Paris very, very confident that Paris will be ready to host the Olympics,” Beckers-Vieujant said.
The chairman of the 2024 Olympics organizing committee, Tony Estanguet, said he was reassured by what he heard.
The IOC “recognizes that we are on schedule,” he said.
In order to increase its income, the organizing committee has confirmed that it is discussing with the world number one in the luxury industry, LVMH, so that it becomes one of the main sponsors of the event.
However, no timeline has been specified for reaching an agreement.
“Discussions are ongoing with the LVMH group,” Estanguet said. We have to be careful, because there is still no agreement reached. »