Athletes swim in the Seine River during the men's 10-kilometre marathon swimming final at the Paris Olympics, on Aug. 9.FRANCK FIFE/Getty Images
The mayor of Paris says cleaning up the Seine River has been one of the lasting benefits of the Olympics, even though questions remain about the river’s water quality.
Anne Hidalgo offered a glowing assessment of the Games on Friday, telling reporters the Olympics had brought an abundance of joy to the city and had exceeded the expectations of people in France and abroad.
“I am really happy to see all the love and happiness because we live in a difficult world,” she told a news conference.
She insisted the excitement and energy of the Games would not be temporary and the Olympics will leave a lasting legacy in several areas, notably transportation and climate change. But she singled out the Seine as one of the biggest achievements.
The cleanliness of the river has been a continuing issue at the Olympics. Officials had to postpone the men’s triathlon for a day because of high levels of E. coli bacteria in the water and every training session for triathletes and marathon swimmers had to be cancelled. All the events managed to go ahead in the river and the next challenge will be the para-triathlon on Sept. 1 and 2.
French authorities have spent around €1.4-billion ($2.1-billion) on a variety of clean-up initiatives for the river and Ms. Hidalgo took a highly-publicized swim last month to prove it was safe. The city plans to open three spots along the Seine for public swimming next summer and Ms. Hidalgo insisted on Friday that the river water was clean.
“We did it,” she said. “The Games made it possible and were a catalyst for it.”
Assessing the overall legacy of any Olympic Games isn’t easy and many economists say the benefits are often exaggerated or difficult to measure.
The French Center for Sports Law and Economics has estimated that the net economic impact of the Paris Games will be between €6.7-billion ($10.1-billion) and €11.1-billion ($16.7-billion) for the Paris region, but that’s over 20 years. France’s central bank governor, François Villeroy de Galhau, has been more cautious and said the impact would be more psychological than economic.
On Friday, Ms. Hidalgo got a boost from Karen Bass, the Mayor of Los Angeles, which will host the Olympics in 2028. Ms. Bass arrived in Paris this week to meet Ms. Hidaglo and Olympic officials, and she will take part in the handover ceremony during the closing ceremony on Sunday.
Ms. Bass said the Olympics can help transform a city and she pointed to the last time Los Angeles hosted the Games in 1984. “L.A. 84 continues, to this day, to contribute to financing youth sports in underserved areas in Los Angeles,” she told reporters after touring a media centre the City of Paris opened for the Olympics.
She acknowledged that Los Angeles will face a number of challenges this time, including addressing homelessness and transportation. “So, you’re giving us a four-year running start so that we can address some of those challenges,” she said. “I think that our Games will really show the diversity, the international character of our city, and then we do have Hollywood. So, I expect a lot of magical opportunities.”
Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee, also said the Paralympics – which begin on Aug. 28 – can be a catalyst to help cities improve accessibility.
This will be the first time Paris has hosted the Paralympics, which involves 4,400 athletes. Ms. Hidalgo said the Games have already prompted the city to install more audible traffic lights and accessible bus platforms. Around 3,000 sports clubs have also begun to introduce more programs for athletes with different abilities.
“Our ambition is to position the Paralympic Games as the most transformational event on the planet,” Mr. Parsons said Friday.
First Afghan woman to compete internationally after Taliban takeover seeks Paralympic gold in Paris
In a brief interview, Mr. Parsons said the Paralympics remained a work in progress but that popularity has been increasing steadily since 1988 when the Games were first held in the same city as the Olympics.
“I think with every edition of the Games our movement is recognized as elite sport, but also elite sport that brings change,” he said. “We want to be recognized as the most transformational sport movement in the world, and I think we are getting there slowly but steadily.”
He added that Paralympic athletes are also being viewed as athletes in their own right and many national Olympic committees have started offering the same bonuses to Olympic and Paralympic medal winners.
“In most of the nations, the national Olympic Committee is on the same level as the national Paralympic Committee. So slowly, but again steadily, we are achieving equality at a global level.”
Follow the latest news and highlights from the Paris Olympic Games