With five months to go before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games open in the French capital, the organising committee held a review meeting of various stakeholders on the status of preparations. A report says that with the Olympics round the corner, interest in sports and physical activities in France has risen significantly.

At the Paris 2024 Forum, Paris 2024 and its stakeholders, the State, host communities, the sports movement, the Terre de Jeux 2024 regions and associations and partner companies, gathered at the Docks d’Aubervilliers in Seine-Saint-Denis to take stock of nearly six years of joint action. 

In a press statement, the organisers say that with five months remaining until the Games, the stakeholders presented their commitments to ensure that the momentum generated continues beyond 2024.

The statement adds that every year, the world’s major sporting events have a natural ability to inspire and motivate people to do more sport, but Paris 2024 and its stakeholders have not been satisfied to go with this usual momentum. To create a lasting legacy, a number of initiatives have been underway for the past six years to promote regular physical and sporting activity in the face of the global challenge of sedentary lifestyles. 

The organisers say that five months before the start of the Games, the progress is already there as almost half, or 49 pc of the French people believe that the organisation of the Games in 2024 will encourage them to take part in physical activity and sport, according to a survey by Harris Interactive for the Organising Committee.

The organisers say that this momentum is part of a targetted strategy, developed since the bid, to remove barriers to physical and sporting activity.

Besides boosting the attitudes towards sports and physical activities, the organising of Olympics has also created a physical legacy targeted at the regions that need it most. Thanks in particular to the work of Solideo, Seine-Saint-Denis, an area lacking in sporting infrastructure, will benefit from a total of four new aquatic centres, 18 new swimming pools, 24 Games preparation centres and a large number of new and renovated local facilities such as gymnasiums and stadiums.

The statement adds that the State has also decided to support this physical legacy at national level by constructing more than 5,500 local sports pitches throughout France, 68 pc of them in rural areas lacking in facilities. Between 2024 and 2026, a further 5,000 facilities will be built or renovated.

Paris 2024 and its stakeholders have given priority to schools and young people to ensure a long-term impact. At the initiative of Paris 2024, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, 30 minutes of daily physical activity was first trialled in the Créteil academic region that includes Seine-Saint-Denis. The programme then moved to 10,000 volunteer schools before being rolled out to all 36,800 elementary schools in France. 

The statement adds that by June 2024, every school will have received a sports kit co-financed by the public authorities to support the implementation of these 30 minutes a day, whose positive effects on pupils have been highlighted by a recent ONAPS study.

Since 2018, three million children and young people have also taken part in Olympic and Paralympic Week, an annual event organised in all schools and universities in France to promote sport and its values.

Lastly, Paris 2024 incorporated the best practices of active design into its strategy by promoting the development of active school playgrounds to encourage girls to take part in sport and in mixed-gender games. Following a successful experiment in 2023 with 200 school playgrounds renovated thanks to the support of the Ministry for Sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, 1,500 school playgrounds will be transformed as part of the Government’s new “5,000 facilities – Generation 2024” plan for the period 2024-2026.

The organisers add that Paris 2024 has also targetted companies as key venues for developing the practice of sport on a daily basis. On the Games construction sites, warm-up sessions were introduced to one out of every two workers, helping to reduce the accident rate by a factor of four. The Plaine Commune region, near Paris, is now rolling out the scheme on its own sites. Lastly, more than 200,000 employees of companies partnering the Games have benefited from activities to promote the practice of sport in their companies thanks to the challenge initiated by Paris 2024, Gofor30.

Thanks to the Paris 2024 Endowment Fund created in 2019, Paris 2024 and its co-financers have supported more than 1,100 social projects to the tune of EUR 47.8 million for 4.5 million beneficiaries to encourage the practice of sport by women and people with disabilities, but also to promote the role of sport in education, equality, inclusion and professional integration.

Very early on, Paris 2024 relied on scientific research to establish a shared diagnosis of the issues relating to physical and sporting activity in France. The Games also acted as a laboratory, with numerous experiments initiated by Paris 2024 and carried out locally to test these programmes before they were rolled out by the Paris 2024 ecosystem, thanks in particular to the support of the State. Lastly, this strategy is being evaluated, in line with OECD recommendations, to monitor results over time and enhance the effectiveness of these initiatives.

“Paris 2024 is a project that will live well beyond the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with one objective: to ensure that society benefits from the legacy of the Games. At Paris 2024, together with all our stakeholders, we have been working from the outset of the project to maximise the legacy of the Games. In almost 100 days’ time, we will be hosting the world’s greatest sporting event, and we must ensure that the momentum around physical activity and sport in everyday life continues to grow, and continues beyond the Games, thanks to the commitment of each and every one of us,” says Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024.

“By living up to the promise of Games wide open and mobilising all those involved in sport in France, Paris 2024’s vision has already come to fruition, even before the Games begin. You are leaving your mark on Olympic history. Your many initiatives and activities to promote exercise, education, inclusion, equality and a better environment are already having a tangible impact. You can be proud of what you have achieved so far. But the Games get underway in just a few months. So keep up your engagement and continue working even closer together, united by the same ambition: to start a new chapter in France’s Olympic and sporting history, and to make sure that these Games leave a lasting legacy throughout the nation. After the Games, keep up this commitment and drive to build a better world together through sport, guided by the Olympic motto: Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together,” says Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee.

“From the outset, one ambition has been at the heart of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 project: to make our country a great sporting nation. Building on the momentum created with the Organising Committee, the State has designed and implemented bold new public policies, investing massively in sports facilities, introducing 30 minutes of daily physical activity at school, and developing the Pass’Sport and sport and health centres. With over three million more people now taking part in sport on a regular basis than in 2017, the Great National Cause 2024, which for the first time is dedicated to promoting physical activity and sport, is more than ever a showcase for the benefits of sport for our society. Together, we are going to make 2024 a one-way journey and a historic turning point for sport in France,” says Amélie Oudea-Castera, Minister for Sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games.