Paris Olympics: Get ready to fall in love again at the City of Love

The IOC has made some shocking calls in recent history. Rio was a flop, Covid killed Tokyo and Russia should never have been an option. Can Paris pull it off?

This handout illustration released on December 15, 2021 by Paris 2024 Olympic Committee shows the Paris Olympics opening ceremony which will take part on the River Sein. Picture: AFP

When the lights start to flicker, there’s not a city in the world that melts hearts the way Paris does.

Perhaps more than any time since the end of the Cold War, humanity desperately needs to come together for a cuddle.

So where better to rendezvous than in the City of Love?

A year from now, the Olympic Games will return to the French capital for the first time in 100 years.

If the romantics are right, it will be a sporting event like no other - reconnecting the struggling Olympic movement with its nostalgic roots.

If good timing and good fortune are the magical ingredients to sporting success, then Paris ticks all the boxes as the perfect place at the perfect time for the biggest peaceful event in the world.

This handout illustration released on December 15, 2021 by Paris 2024 Olympic Committee shows the Paris Olympics opening ceremony which will take part on the River Sein. Picture: AFP

As Victoria’s botched mishandling of the 2026 Commonwealth Games proved, nothing is ever guaranteed when it comes to organising complex multi-sports events.

But after years of self-inflicted scandals, questionable hosts and a once-in-a-century pandemic, France does look like the closest thing to a gold-medal certainty for the bumbling International Olympic Committee (IOC) .

Renowned for blending love, art and culture with sport, if nothing else, the Paris Olympics, and Paralympics, will be a feast for the eyes and souls of the world.

Organisers certainly can’t ever be accused of hiding their light under a bushel, because they are taking the Games to the country’s most iconic and dazzling locations.

Abandoning the tradition of holding the Opening Ceremony inside a closed stadium, competitors will instead sail down the Seine in a flotilla of open air boats for the lighting of the cauldron.

Competitions will be held against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, the Palace of Versailles, Roland-Garros and Place de la Concorde, one of the central stages of the French Revolution.

Other events will take place in Marseilles, Lyon, Bordeaux, even Tahiti, deep in the Pacific Ocean, the inspired choice for surfing.

If Paris represents the chance for the Olympics to start all over again, the IOC shouldn’t be given too much credit because in many ways they got lucky.

The Marseilles Marina will host the sailing events. Picture: Getty Images

The French capital bid for the 1992, 2008 and 2012 Olympics but was rejected each time.

Even in the bidding for 2024, Paris was up against Los Angeles. Unable to split them, the IOC membership made the unprecedented decision to award both cities the Games, with LA getting 2028.

It was the right call because the IOC has made a complete hash of other, recent Olympics.

The decision to award the 2014 Winter Games to Russia was never a good look, nor was giving the 2022 Winters to Beijing.

The 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro turned out to be a flop, leaving Tokyo as the circuit breaker. But Covid killed that.

So now the baton has been passed to Paris, the birthplace of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics.

Revered by the IOC, de Coubertin’s ideals remain open to accusations of hypocrisy. For starters, he opposed the inclusion of women in the Olympics, and his mantra that the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, reeks of double standards.

.@AnnaMeares and the @AusSailingTeam have checked out the sailing location and conditions (📌 Marseille) for the #Paris2024 Olympic Games ⛵

📽️ @beauoutteridge | #RoadToParis2024pic.twitter.com/us4mkch01u

— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 18, 2023

The Olympics is a multi billion industry where the real stars of the show get next to nothing, so no matter how great Paris is, the IOC won’t come away unscathed - particularly if, as expected, they allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals at the same time Vladimir Putin’s troops are waging war in neighbouring Ukraine.

For all its faults though, the Olympics remains one of the few events that has the capacity to unite the world.

Australians fell back in love with the Olympics during Tokyo, watching from the confines of the lockdown.

All the early signs point to an even deeper love affair in Paris, where the Aussie team is expected to do well, finishing in the top 10 on the medals table.

The first time the Olympics were held in Paris, Australia sent a team of three male competitors, and won two gold medals.

In 1924, the 37-strong team won three golds.

Next year, the Australian team will number around 460, and tipped to win at least a dozen gold medals, most from the star-studded swimmers such as Ariarne Titmus, Kaylee McKeown, Emma McKeon, Cate Campbell and rising stars Sam Short and Elijah Winnington, plus canoeist Jess Fox, and Australia’s sailors and cyclists and skateboarders.

It’s time to turn the lights on.