Liberté, egalité … fraternité? Conflict looms large as Paris welcomes world to Olympics

You can sense the fire and ambition in Paris as the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad draws close. It’s on the faces of the athletes, and the lips of those running the show. But there’s something even more fundamental too: a yearning for the Olympics to be spectacular and carefree again. It’s been a while. But after the corruption-soaked chaos of Rio, and the crowd-free Ghost Games of Tokyo, the hope is that Paris will rekindle an old flame. As Étienne Thobois, Paris 2024’s chief executive, puts it: “We want a huge party. And we want that party to be extraordinary.”

It will certainly start with a bang. As the sun goes down over Paris, a flotilla of boats carrying thousands of athletes will set off down the Seine, cheered on by hundreds of thousands of spectators – 220,000 of whom will be watching for free. If all goes to plan, the athletes will then travel a 6km route along the river, past the city’s most famous attractions while watching what organisers say will be a “unique multi-sensory spectacle”.

The biggest and boldest opening ceremony in history will then finish with the official bienvenue at the Trocadéro, with the Eiffel Tower providing a lavish backdrop. It is a thrilling statement of intent, but also an audacious high wire act. The threat of terrorism is such that 45,000 police and security forces will be on guard. But if all goes well, organisers will expect the Games to soar for the duration. Expect early mornings and late nights, familiar names and new sensations. For Team GB that means the swimmer Adam Peaty and the diver Tom Daley back for a final splash, world champions such as the triathlete Alex Yee and the swimmer Matt Richards hoping to swell their medal hauls, and emerging stars, including the pole vaulter Molly Caudery and the cyclist Emma Finucane potentially crashing into the mainstream.

The Olympics will also serve up classic global head to heads, such as the battle in the pool between the Canadian teen Summer McIntosh and the USA’s Katie Ledecky – with the former recently ending Ledecky’s 13-year winning streak in the 800m freestyle. And don’t forget the men’s 1500m, where Britain’s world champion, Josh Kerr, squares off once more against the reigning Olympic gold medallist, Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

French eyes, meanwhile, will be on Antoine Dupont in the men’s rugby sevens, the swimmer Léon Marchand, who recently broke Michael Phelps’s last remaining world record, and the judoka star Teddy Riner. And there is Victor Wembanyama, all 7ft 4in of him, who is a vital cog in France’s basketball squad.

However there may not be a bigger star in Paris than the American gymnast Simone Biles, especially if she adds to her seven Olympic medals and puts her struggles with the Twisties in Tokyo further behind her.

The Games will finish with another spectacular set piece, as the women’s marathon is being staged on the route of the Women’s March on Versailles in 1789. It was a key moment of the French Revolution, with cries of “Liberté, egalité, fraternité!” reverberating around the city. But it also invites the question: will the Olympics be able to live up to those ideals?

Liberty? Yes, especially given organisers have tried to take sport out of the stadiums and to open up the Games. If you thought the beach volleyball at Horse Guards Parade was iconic, wait until you see it at the Eiffel Tower. Or the BMX, Breaking, 3x3 basketball and skateboarding at Place de la Concorde. Meanwhile equestrian sports get the suitably grand stage of the Palace of Versailles.

It’s not just that either. Much of the joy of an Olympics is found beyond the field of play. In London it felt like serotonin had been pumped into the Thames to lift the mood. Few cities are as well equipped as Paris to repeat that trick.

Equality? Here the picture is more nuanced. On the plus side, female athletes will have as many places in the Games as men for the first time. Notably, the women’s marathon and basketball finals – not the men’s, as is traditional – will bring these Games to a close.

Elsewhere 20,024 people will get the chance to run the Olympic marathon course on the same day as the world’s best over 26.2 miles. However there is no escaping the high price of most tickets. Athletics, for instance, costs €990 (£840) for “Category First” seats during evening sessions, and €690, €385, €195 or €85 for Category A-D tickets. That said, one million tickets – about 10% of the total – were sold for €24.

What about fraternity? This is where the widest divide between warm words and hard reality exists. The International Olympic Committee’s message has always been that the Games is the only event that brings the entire world together in peaceful competition. As usual an Olympic truce will be in place. Whether anyone will observe it is another matter.

As Michael Payne, who was a senior IOC marketing executive across multiple Games, points out: “It has been several decades since the Olympics has taken place to such a conflicted backdrop.

“In many ways the Palestine issue is as sensitive as Ukraine. And there are various groups, who frankly wouldn’t get much oxygen without the magnifying glass of the Olympics, who will be looking to do something.

“That’s before we get to the potential fallout from the French elections – or the ongoing row over the 23 Chinese swimmers who were cleared by the World Anti-Doping Agency after initially testing positive.”

But Thobois says he still sleeps well at night, despite the many potential challenges. “We love sport,” he says. “And we love big events. There is a fanbase for every sport in France, and we’re very excited to be welcoming the world.”

It is bound to be a tightrope, from first day to last. But, as always, the Olympics will make for dazzling and compelling viewing.