Paris 2024 kicks off under clouds

Bonjour from Paris, where the entire Scoreboard team has relocated for the next two weeks. As well as all us journalists, more than 10,000 athletes from around globe are now in town ahead of the biggest event in sport: the summer Olympic Games.

But outnumbering us all are the vast numbers of police who’ve been deployed on to the streets — with around 45,000 on duty through the Games. The sight of massed ranks of armed police and soldiers around some of the city’s most famous landmarks has lent a slightly eerie feel to the final preamble ahead of the sport itself. Large sections of central Paris have been off limits for several days now, with a tight ring of steel built around the Seine in preparation for last night’s grand opening.

Spectators were treated to a grand tour of French culture, including rooftop parkour, can-can dancers, accordion-players, Aya Nakamura joining forces with the Republican Guard, and a choir of Revolution-era severed heads singing along to heavy metal. Flag-waving athletes sailed their way down the river, while Lady Gaga and Celine Dion added star power.

Sadly none of them could do anything about the weather. Rain pelted down on all but the highest notch of VIPs (they had a roof over their heads), making Paris the soggiest summer games in decades.

With that now behind us, the focus can finally shift to the action in the pool, on the track and on the gymnasium floor. But before that, we’re looking at three of the big new stories that have dominated the final countdown. Do read on — Josh Noble, sports editor

Sabotage chills the mood as Games begin

The potential for malicious attempts to disrupt Paris 2024 have long been a simmering concern for organisers. Hours before the opening ceremony, theoretical worries became stark reality.

On Friday morning, France was forced to suspend large parts of its high-speed train network after a series of co-ordinated arson attacks. While the direct impact on the Games appears minimal — athletes were all in town already — the acts of sabotage cast a dark cloud over the Games ahead of last night’s ambitious waterborne opening ceremony.

While nobody has claimed responsibility, organisers had long held fears that the Kremlin might look to interfere with the Games. Earlier in the week, a Russian living in Paris was arrested in connection with a plot to destabilise the Games. Meanwhile Israeli government officials have been warning of possible Iranian plots in Paris.

Russia certainly has history when it comes to throwing sand in Olympic gears. Relations with the IOC have been fraught ever since Moscow’s state-sponsored doping programme was first uncovered. At the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea, a major cyber attack was later pinned on Russia.

Since then Russia has become increasingly isolated on the global stage, while French President Emmanuel Macron’s full-throated support for Ukraine has made Paris an even more inviting target.

The IOC chose not to impose a blanket ban on Russian athletes, instead leaving individual sports to make a call on whether to allow them to take part under a neutral flag. But in the end, just 15 Russians have come to compete.

You can read more about Russian attempts to subvert the Olympic Games, and its efforts to bolster alternative competitions, in this piece from our colleague Anastasia Stognei.

For now one thing is for certain — Friday morning’s railway sabotage guarantees that the potential for mischief will remain a worry throughout the two weeks to come.

Salt Lake City named 2034 Winter Games host, with a catch

Salt Lake City secured the rights to host the 2034 Winter Olympics, it was announced this week by the IOC, but not before Olympics authorities threatened to pull the honour if the US undermines the World Anti-Doping Agency

Salt Lake City winning the 2034 games was a foregone conclusion, as it was the only bidder. But hours before the official award was finalised, IOC members and a clutch of Utah politicians and US Olympic leaders signed a special provision compelling the host city to effectively lobby the US federal government against pursuing an investigation into alleged doping by Chinese swimmers.

The US passed a law in 2020 establishing authorities to make doping a criminal offence by anyone in global sports who competes against American athletes. The US has already issued a subpoena to the executive director of World Acquatics in connection with its investigation into Chinese swimming.

Utah governor Spencer Cox said the unusual contract clause for the host city negotiations “was the only way that we could guarantee that we would get the Games”.

Defending gold medallist Canada women’s football embroiled in drone-spying scandal

Canada is facing one of its most explosive sporting scandals after it was discovered its women’s national football team has allegedly been spying on opponents with covert drones for years.

Head coach Bev Priestman was suspended and sent home after it was uncovered that the team was using drones to peer in on the closed practice of their first opponent in the group stage, New Zealand, last week. The Canadians are the defending gold medallists in women’s football.

Canada Soccer chief executive Kevin Blue said on Friday that “over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the Paris Olympics”. The team is undertaking an external review of the matter, and both Fifa and the IOC are investigating the New Zealand incident.

Priestman apologised before her suspension was issued, saying that “this does not represent the values that our team stands for”. 

Local authorities in Saint-Étienne, where the practice took place, detained a non-accredited member of Canada’s support team last week after New Zealand reported the drone. 

Olympic Highlights

• France is hoping to break into the top five in the Olympic medal table at the Paris Games — but how? And can it be done? We look at the French project to boost its podium finishes.

• Hundreds of thousands of unwanted Olympics tickets have been listed on the official resale site, raising the prospect of empty seats at some events.

• Brasseries, shops and other small businesses in Paris are suffering a sharp drop in sales as footfall dwindles before the Olympic Games, with arrivals of tourists and ticket holders yet to make up for an exodus of locals. 

• Corporate sponsors have embraced the IOC’s push into urban sports, such as BMX freestyle and skateboarding, as was to reach a younger audience of potential customers.

Final Whizzle

Broadcasters who fork out huge sums to carry the Olympics are trying to reach out to a younger audience. That presumably explains why US rapper Snoop Dogg has been brought in as a “special correspondent” in Paris during NBC’s coverage of the Games.

On Friday, we got a little prelude as he sashayed his way around Paris while holding the Olympic torch. Snoop Dogg, it should be noted, is now 52, while Drop It Like It’s Hot topped the charts when Athens hosted the Games 20 years ago. Feel young now?