The organisers of the Paris Olympic Games and the Paralympics created a new model for the rest of the world which will be difficult for other nations to emulate. The total spending of the Summer Olympics in Paris was estimated to be 9.1 billion US dollars, which was the lowest ever after the Sydney Olympics in 1996. In Sydney, a sum of 8.1 billion dollars was spent at prices prevailing more than a quarter of a century back. Expenses on the Beijing Olympics (2008) were 52.7 billion dollars, followed by $16.8 billion for London (2012), $23.6 billion for Rio de Janeiro (2016) and $13.7 billion for Tokyo (2020).

How could Paris organise such a wonderful show economically?

This happened because Paris did not go for new construction except two: a combined Aquatics Centre and a Climbing Wall. All other events were held either in temporary constructions or in existing set ups. Beach volleyball was hosted not on the beaches of the French Riviera or at Brittany but in a makeshift set-up at the foot of the iconic Eiffel Tower. The same venue was used for football during the Paralympics. Marathon, road cycling, archery and para-archery were held in the garden in front of Les Invalides, a complex of monuments and museums. The Place de la Concorde, the public execution site during the French Revolution where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were guillotined, hosted the freestyle bicycle motocross, skateboarding and 3X3 basketball.

What materials were used in these temporary constructions? Wood, coming from sustainably-managed French forests, was used for these structures. Low-carbon materials were reused in structures of the makeshift venues that were meant for redeployment or recycling. Wood and low-carbon concrete in construction restricted the costs and halved the carbon emissions as compared to the Games in the recent past. This was an effective way for the organisers of the Paris Olympics to remind the global community of the essence of the Paris climate pact.

The Seine river had not been used for swimming for the last hundred years or so because of bacterial pollution in the water. But the organisers of Paris 2024 took it as a challenge to purify the water of the Seine. Nearly $1.5 billion was spent in making two wastewater treatment plants and one massive reservoir. Media reports suggest that around 20,000 households, which were sending wastewater directly into the river, were offered 6,000 euros each to update their drainage system. These measures led the marathon swimming competition and the swimming segment of the triathlon to be held in the river.

Another new feature of the Paris Olympics was that different cities of France were involved in some way or the other in hosting the Games. Basketball and handball events were organised in Lille; Marseille hosted sailing; shooting was held at Chateauroux; surfing in Tahiti island of French Polynesia.

Finally, the Paris Olympics will be remembered for achieving full gender parity as far as the participation of sportsmen and women is concerned. The International Olympic Committee, which distributed the same number of quotas to male and female athletes, played an important role too. Gender equality was evident in the opening ceremony itself where 96% of the 196 National Olympic Committees selected two athletes, one female and one male, to carry the national flags of the respective nations.

The only criticism that was heard was related to the athletes’ villages, which were designed to rely on a geothermal cooling system and natural breezes and lacked air-conditioning in the rooms. Though the average temperature of Paris in the beginning of August varies between 17-25 degrees centigrade, athletes from certain countries found the summer unbearable. The organisers responded by installing a large number of air-conditioners. Experts estimated that nearly 50% of the emissions from the Games were likely to come from the travel of the athletes, officials and spectators. The organisers decided to use ‘carbon offsets’ in a number of countries to minimise the impact.

The Paris Games have thus shown how to do more with less, do better, and leave a useful legacy.

Gautam Bhattacharya is a former civil servant