Faster Higher Stronger

The eyes of the world are on Paris for the 2024 Olympics, the first Olympic Games fully aligned with Olympic Agenda 2020, with a promise to deliver spectacular Games that are more responsible, more sustainable and more inclusive. 

Around 300,000 spectators were expected to line the banks with huge screens enabling viewing of the side shows and star-studded supporting acts. This change from the usual stadium-based opening extravaganza was a bold move; nonetheless in France in late July the one thing that might perhaps have been taken for granted was lovely summer weather. 

 

But not this year – as the day approached weather forecasters were predicting heavy showers. In fact nearly 30mm of rain fell from 6pm to midnight and during the 3-hour ceremony attended by world leaders and global celebrities. That’s the equivalent of 15 days of rainfall. It’s been a crazy summer in northern Europe with unprecedented amounts of rain - in June the Euros Football Tournament in Germany was badly impacted by rainfall flooding the pitches. Global warming has created the uncertainty; long established weather systems are shifting, creating havoc for events like the Olympics and the Euros, but with much graver long term consequences for agriculture and infrastructure. 

 

Paris has committed to deliver an Olympics which is more responsible, more sustainable and more inclusive. The organisers laid out a cutting-edge plan to halve the carbon footprint compared to previous Games, with innovative solutions for energy, food, venues, transport and digital services. This pledge in itself comprises a satisfying feedback loop; in 2015 the Paris Climate Agreement, the international treaty on climate change, was agreed by 196 countries at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP21 in La Défense, the financial district on the north side of the city. The Eiffel Tower took centre stage then as the symbol of hope for a better world. 

 

Nine years after the climate negotiations, a key premise of these Olympic Games is their circular economy strategy, using existing infrastructure wherever possible. Targeting a 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions compared to the average of London 2012 and Rio 2016, Paris 2024 has addressed the broadest category of emissions, also covering the indirect footprint of the Games (scope 3 emissions) such as spectator travel. This means that Paris 2024 will offer the first Olympic Games aligned with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, adopted – in Paris - in 2015. 

 

The national stadium, the Stade de France, is being deployed for the athletics events rather than building a new one – Olympic cities throughout the world are littered with stadiums and specialist venues built for the Games and left rotting. In another bold move the River Seine has undergone a massive clean-up programme at a cost of $1.5 billion in order to play a leading role in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as the venue not only for the opening ceremony but also for the open water swimming events – triathlons and marathons. To demonstrate the river’s safety, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the river on July 17th, 10 days ahead of the games. But tests later in the month showed that the river still contained unsafe levels of bacteria, making the mayor’s swim a potential health risk. However, the organisers remained hopeful that the river would stay safe enough for the Olympics to debut a new era for this grande dame. Alas, due in part to the unstable weather, with the immensely heavy rain being cited as a major problem creating unseasonal sewage overflows, the women's triathlon event scheduled for the first Tuesday was postponed to the following day due to safety and health-related concerns. Some athletes who swam in the river have been taken ill, and the Belgian team have withdrawn completely from the remaining open water events. In the UK water companies have been ignoring the problems created by the changing climate and increased rainfall for years, and the lack of investment in infrastructure while huge payouts have been made to senior executives and shareholders is now a major scandal. 

 

Viewing the Olympics is astonishing – the athletes’ extraordinary feats of physical attainment underpinned by the mental strength needed to achieve them is both awe-inspiring and humbling. The original Latin motto of the modern Olympic Games, Citius, Altius, Fortius – Faster, Higher, Stronger, was changed in 2021 to Citius, Altius, Fortius – Communiter, meaning Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together, reflecting the unifying power of sport and the importance of solidarity. In 2015 Paris was the focus and symbol for the International Climate Agreement designed to keep our world safe from dangerous levels of global warming. In 2024 the world is watching the City of Lights again, as human achievement is stretched to its limits and beyond, and country teams work to achieve extraordinary, unbelievable outcomes. 

 

The next UN Climate Change Conference, COP29 opens in Baku, Azerbaijan on the 11th November – 14 weeks from now. Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together surely perfectly sums up what we have to do.