Paris 2024 Olympic Committee Praises The Success Of Tokyo Olympics And Paralympics

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics were praised by many for their success. (photo: doc. Antara)

JAKARTA – Tokyo's success in holding the 2020 Olympics and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 has received praise from Paris 2024 CEO Etienne Thobois. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Olympic committee is said to have successfully held the world's largest sporting event.

Thobois, who is directly observing the implementation of the Paralympics, admitted that he and his staff learned important lessons from Tokyo. Especially about overcoming all challenges. They also promised that they would do the same in three years.

"My first reaction is that we all need to thank our colleagues in Japan, who were able to organize this in the current situation, what a great achievement," Thobois said as reported by Reuters on Friday, August 3.

"They have to deal with the situation and do it fantastically. Obviously, we hope that three years from now, this kind of situation has passed or the level of concern has decreased. But obviously, we have learned a lot."

Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizers, who had to postpone their events by a year due to the pandemic, took the radical decision to hold the Games behind closed doors to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

They also implemented a number of protective rules such as routine tests, mandatory use of masks, and the application of bubble patterns, as well as several other policies that were distributed to athletes and all participants of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics will conclude with a closing ceremony on Sunday, September 5, which will also be the start of the countdown to the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on July 26, 2024.

"The fundamentals of Paris 2024 are clear. We are ready to face the challenge and adapt. That's what we will do," said Thobois.

"Today we are talking about a pandemic, tomorrow maybe a heat wave, you know every Olympics has its own challenges in the past, and we have to be as prepared as possible for them," he added.

Paris will be the second city after London to host the Olympics for the third time. The last time the French capital played that role was in 1924.

"We are entering a thrilling phase, where we will start rolling out various programs that speak volumes to the general public," Thobois said, citing milestones such as the volunteer program strategy, mascot announcements and ticket sales.

"We are quite confident that we can organize the Olympics with the principle of being as open as possible to the general public," he concluded.