What sort of Games? Paris 2024 organisers promise Olympics in tune with the times

But there's still plenty that can go wrong, from Paris transport strikes and price gouging on hotel rooms to what's on a municipal employee's stolen laptop. Sources at Paris City Hall say he claimed to have been robbed of security plans for the Olympics so that police would expedite his case. Either way, what are the challenges, particularly surrounding the opening ceremonies along the River Seine?

More broadly, there's an essential question: 100 years after Paris last hosted the Games, what are the Olympics all about? In an era of superpower tensions and of splintered allegiances, why does this global spectacle continue to fascinate?

Read more Paris in 2024: Much more than the Olympics at stake?

Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert.

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