#Woldwide | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

atotaltaitaitale · 1 month

Text

It was a gold medal in my book… from start to finish and everything in between.

Warning: it’s very long. I know this is the era of short format and 30-sec attention spans…but please indulge me and read on. Thank you 🥰

What it is like to host a woldwide event under the microscope of the new social media phenomenon?

I feel like this is the first Olympic Games that is being held where social media and more specifically with the rise of TikTok during the Covid-19 pandemic are so prevalent in our daily lives. Of course pictures were shared on Instagram and Facebook for previous Olympic Games but the big change this time around is the mini video format of TikTok where everyone has become a “reporter” (not to use the term “influencer”) and as such gets to reach a worldwide audience with their personal opinions in an under 1-minute format. Opinions that become trends and in order to get views (and maybe even a monetary compensation) it is clear that “click-baits” are the way to go. Our brains have been hardwired through evolution to focus on the negative, and when adding to the mix Frenchbashing and France’s national sport of complaining you then get the perfect storm for what seemed to transpire in the news. The negative effect is a cognitive bias that says something very positive will generally have less of an impact on a person’s behavior and cognition than something equally emotional but negative. Negative draws more attention. The internet empowers weak people to vent crap, we all need to pay less attention to the opinions of others that have zero connection to you. However if you get away from yellow journalism or sensationalized headlines you get maybe a more nuanced picture of the games. Dare I say a lot more positive, borderline enthusiastic.

Now the core of the Olympics. The brief: “Make It Iconic”. And wow did they deliver!!

For months and in true French spirit I heard and read the most negative comments about the Olympics : it was going to be a disaster, we will be the laughing stock of the world, I’m leaving the city to avoid the chaos, etc etc. In truth it’s always the same scenario : a country of naysayers and then each and every time we pull ourselves together and we party like there is no tomorrow. It happened with football (soccer) and rugby championship… just this year! Since the Olympic cauldron was lit, every site in Paris has turned into powerfully vibey, unapologetically French summer party. There was no scenario where I wouldn’t be in town for at least some of the events; and it turned out that we stayed the whole time. How often do you get to live in the heart of the city hosting the Olympic Games? Well turned out twice for us: first Beijing2008 then Paris2024. The chaos of the pre-game preparation is part of the hassle of hosting but walking around the city in the past few months and seeing the infrastructure being erected in the heart of the city, while I recognize could be disruptive to some, I could see the vision of the Olympic committee. I personally was certain it was going to be amazingly breathtaking and it didn’t disappoint.

Refurbishing existing landmarks is the smartest Olympic investment and they have turned each event into a love song to France - brilliant marketing for tourists, as well as investment for the future. Even though France has topped the list of the most visited country in the world for at least the last 3 decades, with a staggering 100 millions visitors in 2023. France has earned gold by every measure. Every Parisian who dared to stay in Paris this summer will tell you the same thing: they have never enjoyed the city as much as this past few weeks. The people are joyful, the sports venues are iconic, the monuments are shining, the traffic is almost inexistant, the subway is even working well. Tourists mentioned how well organized it is, how the city is calm and relaxed, people are happy and dancing... these games are a huge success. Everything is amazingly on time, safe, clean, no lines, no wait times, no wrong seating, no confusion. Rude Paris service might even just be a myth. The haters can keep whining on social media, it won't change a thing!

I had a very unique way of choosing events to attend. I chose the venues over the disciplines. I wanted to experience the games in the heart of the city with breathtaking background as I don’t have a favorite sport or root for a particular team (well apart for Team France mostly!). So I chose Stade Tour Eiffel, and it just happened that Beach Volleyball was the sport (I even got to see a game with the France team and even the USA team by chance). I did the same with Stade Les Invalides and saw Archery, Stade Concorde and saw amazing young women athletes in skateboarding. I went all the way in the suburbs to go see water polo (again by chance the French team and the USA team played) at the only purpose-built for the Olympics infrastructure Centre Aquatique Saint Denis. I will get to go to the Grand Palais (one of my favorite monument in Paris) for the Paralympics and also Stade de France for Para Track & Fields, as prices were a lot more reasonable and I’m a big advocate of the paralympics. Roland Garros with wheelchair tennis and Paris Arena with para swimming (didn’t make it to Taylor concert so at least I can see how they build a swimming pool where a stage was just a few months prior!!!) are also on my list of places I will be for the paralympics.

The organizing committee had committed to using 95% of existing or temporary venues, which aligns with their vision of promoting responsible event production and reducing the environmental impact. They were the very first Olympic Games with full gender parity, because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allocated 50 per cent of the quota places to female athletes and 50 per cent to male athletes for a total of 10,500 competitors. Countries were encouraged to have a female and male flag bearer. Parity was there even in the lighting of the flame. The last event of the Olympics was also switched from the Men Marathon to the Women Marathon. Holding the women’s marathon after the men’s event, bringing the Games to a close, is hugely symbolic. Especially with the marathon, because women struggled for a long time to be able to take part. The route itself recognized a key moment from the French Revolution: the Women’s March on Versailles on 5 October 1789 when market women shopkeepers and workers from popular quarters gathered in front of the Hotel de Ville in Paris to demand bread and arms. Between 6,000 and 7,000 Parisian women marched through Paris to Versailles to bring the king back to the Tuileries Garden. That day, Louis XVI finally agreed to ratify the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens.

Providing people in France with an outstanding Games experience has always been Paris 2024's ambition. With the Marathon pour Tous (Mass Participation Marathon), amateur athletes were able to run the same route as the Olympic marathon enabling people to follow in the footsteps of outstanding athletes. In line with the parity of the games 20,024 participants (half women and half men) got to run during the night of Saturday and an additional 20,024 participants (again half women, half men) got to run a 10k route. A truly amazing addition to this year Olympics. With the Olympic Cauldron, which has always remained on the ground in the past, the committee decided to pay tribute to French pioneers Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, who invented the Montgolfier-style hot air balloon, so the Cauldron was designed as part of a hot air balloon. The Olympic cauldron reflects the organizers' desire to place the Games and their symbols at the center of life in the capital, making the Olympic flame visible to all and contributing to the Olympic fervor in Paris. The golden balloon and cauldron sits in the Tuileries Gardens and it is sent a hundred feet up in the air every day at sunset. In 1783, the Mongolfier balloon took off from the Tuileries in front of 400,000 spectators and in the 1790s, the first-ever aerostiers brigade, the French Air Force’s hot air balloon corps, did its earliest hydrogen experiments in the Tuileries next to the Louvre.

Multiple other French rituals were also added to this Olympics. For example at the start of each sporting event, three blows are given to the floor, in the manner of theatrical tradition; these three strokes of the brigadier (the stick) are a way of combining sport and theater, and paying tribute to France's cultural tradition. In addition to the cultural symbolism, this tradition is intended to impose a certain solemn and ceremonial dimension on the event, emphasizing the importance of respecting the athletes' performances and is intended to create a strong bond between spectators and athletes. These three strokes are a reminder that each event is a unique performance that deserves the public's attention and respect. Another fun ritual is the restored bell from Notre Dame that hadn't been rung since the fire that damaged it in 2019. It has Paris 2024 engraved on it and gold medalists get to ring it and forever leave their mark on the famous city when the Games conclude, as the bell is moving to its new home at Notre Dame when the cathedral's renovations are complete.

But we cannot finish a post about Paris 2024 without addressing the elephant in the room i.e. the Opening Ceremony.

Before I start, it was so disappointing that the weather decided to turn ugly after days of sunshine just as the ceremony was starting and if you looked at a weather map during the event you would have seen that the rain was located only above Paris. But C’est la Vie!

From my French point of view seeing it in France, having just moved back here after 25+ years abroad, and after talking to many friends from different countries, the French TV commentators gave a lot more explanation during the ceremony so even if you didn’t necessarily have all the cultural references you could follow along and get it. I think it would have generated a lot less controversy if international TV commentators had had some knowledge or at least some guidelines, but then it would have spoiled the surprise if leaked before the ceremony. Just my 2 cents. Every host country tries to inject their own culture into the opening ceremony. As a reference I feel we got a different point of view of the Beijing Olympic Opening ceremony in 2008 because we lived there and understood the culture a little more than average Jo on TV and it’s true for each country. We just went a little above average… because well we are French ;-)

The opening was a mixture of references to history, culture, sport, music and, last but not least, the current issues. It carried a strong political message. All that on the backdrop of the City of Light with its plethora of buildings, parcs, spaces and the majestic Seine. It may have been tough to catch every nod to a book, character, painting or song during the event. The French have put a lot of thoughts into the significance of the olympics and of their country. It’s sad that it got nitpicked and focused to one or two scenes.

But we also have to talk a little about confirmation bias: this is our tendency as humans to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with our existing beliefs. This means if we read something or hear something that lines up with what we already think, then we are all in, often no questions asked. And then we may just hold on to our bias for dear life. “It’s a mockery of the Last Supper” may fit in really well with our confirmation bias for example if we are already feeling persecuted or believe we are being attacked. So when we hear that it wasn’t based on “The Last Supper” at all and instead on Greek mythology “Feast of Dionysus” painted by Jan Harmensz between 1635-1640 in France and hung in the Magnin Museum in Dijon, which makes more sense in reality since it links a piece of art located in France with Greece and the theme of opulence, we still have a really hard time stepping away from what we read or believe about the Last Supper. We may dig in and hold on explaining away all the things that don’t line up. We may choose to think everything that doesn’t fit with our bias is false, even if it comes directly from a source that should be given credit, for example the people who planned it! This is normal brain behavior and we all do it. I don’t care what “side” you are on, your brain does this. The trick is to know it and help your brain do better.

At the same time I know it can be hard for foreigners to understand all the messages this ceremony tried to convey. The title of the opening ceremony was “Ca Ira” (meaning it’s going to be ok) it’s a revolutionary song. The opening ceremony has the power to change people’s minds. Even though we are facing great challenges, “Ça ira”. The ceremony was created like a theater play by one of the greatest French theater directors of his generation, Thomas Jolly. They scripted it like a play to take you on an amazing journey from point A to Z. The ceremony took place in the city and unfortunately in the rain! It was spectacular. Axelle Saint-Cirel, a French Black woman, sang the French national anthem. In these times in our country, this is bold.

One of the best comments I read online: “Reading opening ceremony hot takes makes me think a lot of y’all have never heard of the French and their French ways”. It also reminded me of something I heard a while back “the French do not care what you think of them. You are not the main character here.”

Paris is, and always has been, a city of romance, excess, and toppling authority.

Also one must remember the Latin phrase used as the motto of the city of Paris: ‘Fluctuat nec mergitur” “tossed by the waves but does not sink”

The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will go down in history for their stunning venues in the heart of Paris and across France, their focus on sustainability and legacy, and the record-breaking performances by athletes from the territories of 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the Refugee Olympic Team. Media Rights-Holders (MRHs) are reporting record figures compared to previous Games, with Paris 2024 anticipated to be the most followed Games ever, with over half of the world's population expected to have engaged with them.

Olympics 2024 organizers said the Paris Games broke the record for the most number of tickets sold or allocated in the event's history: 9.7 million tickets were sold or allocated for this year's Olympic and Paralympic Games, with 8.7 million sold for the former and a million for the latter. The previous ticket sales record was held by Atlanta in 1996 (the “Centennial Game”) when 8.3 million tickets were sold.

Good luck to the next country/city.

LA: You might not have iconic historical landmarks as backdrop but you have showbiz. Your stadium are big, bigger and biggest and so is your motto. You might not have to worry about rain but I hope you won’t have to worry about wild fires. Anyway You do you. You should do whatever is best for you, no matter what other people think… because France sure did.

With love from Paris 🇫🇷

PS: do not forget the Olympics are not quite finished… there is still the Paralympics and the amazing athletes competing. They need our encouragement too.

There is no excuse since Paris 2024 will make history as the first Paralympic Games to offer some live coverage from each of the 22 sports. There will be record number of broadcasters to cover Paris 2024 Paralympics. Media Rights Holders in more than 160 countries and territories have committed to broadcasting the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

#celineisnotanexpatanymore #France life #Paris #paris 2024 #paris olympics #CelineAndParis2024OlympicGames #CelineAndParis2024Games #olympic games

5 notes · View notes