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NewsTranscript
00:00 Let's cross back to James Vecina, whose location will give us a bit more of an insight into
00:05 exactly what we can expect from that opening ceremony.
00:08 James, you are of course on the River Seine, where more than 100 boats will be travelling
00:13 nearly 6km along that iconic river in what organisers are calling the most accessible
00:19 opening ceremony in history.
00:21 What more can you tell us?
00:24 Well it's exactly going to be that, Sina, in exactly a year's time then.
00:28 This very boat that we are on right now is going to be part of that ceremony, part of
00:32 the over 100 boats that will be taking part in the opening ceremony.
00:37 One that's for the first ever time is going to be outside of a stadium.
00:40 Now that poses many challenges which we'll get to, but starting with what the actual
00:44 plan is, well they're going to leave from the east of Paris, the Quai d'Austerlitz towards
00:49 which we are heading.
00:50 We're actually turning around right now because we're on what is actually a normal cruise
00:54 for tourists.
00:55 Behind, just in front of me, there's several hundreds of people just admiring the sights
00:59 throughout the city.
01:00 So we're going to go back towards and follow the routes that the ceremony will be taking
01:05 and going past every one of these spots.
01:07 Now on the boats is going to be the usual dancing and everything that you would see
01:11 within what would normally be a stadium.
01:15 But on top of that obviously there's going to be all the security side and all the technical
01:19 side, everything that's going to be broadcast and everything's going to have to be tied
01:22 down to absolute perfection.
01:24 There's already been some rehearsals.
01:26 There was one rehearsal on the 17th of July with about half of the amount of boats that
01:30 will be taking part in that rehearsal.
01:33 There's still plenty of time for them to do plenty more, but we're going to go through
01:37 every site throughout and what's going to be crazy is that we're going to see at this
01:41 moment where these competitions are taking place.
01:45 So take for example, we're going to be heading towards the Place des Concours.
01:47 It's going to be the skateboarding event on there.
01:50 Skateboarding which is only going to make its second ever appearance in the Olympics,
01:55 which is such an almost in a way an anti-Olympic sport up until now.
02:00 You would never have imagined this taking place in there.
02:02 Well, it's going to be now taking place on the Place des Concours, which is the absolute
02:07 pinnacle of everything that's all about the luxurious Paris.
02:11 Skateboarding is going to be taking place on there.
02:13 After that, towards the Eiffel Tower, you're going to have the beach volley there and so
02:16 on throughout along the River Seine.
02:18 So we're going to see all of that in the opening ceremony, that everything has to be taken
02:22 into every small detail.
02:25 Just a few minutes, we're going to be speaking to the heads of the company that owns these
02:29 boats who's been telling us a little bit about their preparations in just a few minutes time.
02:34 It's truly going to be a spectacular site, a lot of excitement ahead of that opening
02:41 ceremony among Parisians here in the French capital.
02:44 But of course, there are also concerns over security for such a large scale event.
02:50 What more can you tell us about what the French authorities are trying to do to ensure people's
02:54 security?
02:55 Well, naturally, there is, because, look, normally a ceremony takes place in a closed
03:02 stadium.
03:03 You can filter pretty much who's going into a closed stadium.
03:05 You can't do that on the same in the same way when a ceremony goes all along the River
03:10 Seine, six kilometers, they're going to have to block off.
03:13 And spectators will be able to come and watch along the side of the river, come and watch
03:17 the ceremony at that point.
03:19 So they're talking about 80,000 members of security, security staff, whether it's for
03:25 the ceremony, but also throughout the games needed to ensure that everything goes all
03:29 right, because it's going to be a truly open air, as we said, Olympics throughout Paris.
03:33 So lots of challenges on that way.
03:36 Obviously, that is among the main concerns because it's going to be broadcast all across
03:39 the world.
03:40 And security, well, they are we're going to ask the head, as I said, of the company about
03:44 a few little details about how he is is affected by that and what they have to do.
03:49 But as you can imagine, there's quite a lot of it is kept quite in quite secretive way
03:54 for the moment.
03:55 Yeah, a few things that still are yet to be revealed about the opening ceremony.
03:59 And finally, James, I have to ask you, you are obviously on the River Seine about the
04:04 big cleanup project to make the river swimmable.
04:08 Triathlon and marathon swimming are scheduled to take place in its waters.
04:12 More than a billion euros has been invested in that cleanup operation.
04:16 I know there's some very skeptical Parisians about that, myself included.
04:22 Just how clear clean will that water be?
04:25 There is there is.
04:28 We talk about organizing everything that we can see, but then there's everything on the
04:32 water.
04:33 If if events like the triathlon are going to be taking place in the Seine, well, the
04:37 water needs to be crystal clean.
04:38 It's not the case right now.
04:39 I said this earlier on.
04:40 We went to have a look.
04:41 And as you know, the River Seine does not really make you want to go jump in there and
04:45 go for a little swim for now.
04:46 It's one of the biggest challenges for for Paris.
04:50 They say that things are going well also on that side.
04:52 They've compared the quality of the water at this time of year compared to what it's
04:56 going to be like during the Olympics, saying that it is looking decent.
05:01 But that's going to be a massive, massive challenge.
05:02 We've talked about cleaning the Seine for years.
05:04 I can remember when I was young, the mayor of Paris and then president of France, Jacques
05:09 Chirac, said that he'd clean up the Seine and that he would cross it, swim it swim across
05:15 the Seine.
05:16 Well, that never happens.
05:17 Whether that happens this time around, I think the mayor of Paris is going to have to do
05:19 it if if if she wants to prove that the River Seine is clean enough for everyone to swim
05:25 in.
05:26 But athletes are going to be the first ones to really test that out when they take part
05:30 in the in the events on the river.
05:33 But of course, it's more than that.
05:35 Just as we mentioned earlier on the show, there's more about just the legacy of the
05:39 Olympics, because it's what is actually going to bring for Parisians further down the line.
05:44 Well, Paris has promised the Parisians will be able to swim in the Seine as of 2025.
05:48 So that's the summer after the Olympics.
05:51 That's a big promise.
05:52 They've already planned out three zones in the center of the city because you can't currently
05:55 swim in one section towards the north and on one of the canals, but not in the center
06:00 of the city.
06:01 They've made plans for that.
06:02 That's one of the promises.
06:03 Let's hope they keep it.
06:05 I'm not sure I'll be taking a dip in it anytime soon, personally, but maybe I'll have to give
06:10 it a go.
06:11 We can we can see how things pan out in 2025.
06:13 Can't we?
06:14 James still on his feet after a few boat maneuvers.
06:17 They'll be crossing back to you later on.