Dubi provides insight
“What gives me goosebumps is not only delivering a great event but that we do it as a community.”
Dubi’s keynote address focused on adapting the Olympic Games to a host city, when it was often thought
to be the other way around. A host city must ensure that any infrastructure that is built for their games
must be meaningful. There is no ban on building new infrastructures but rather a focus on ensuring that all
building that is done is completely necessary for the needs of the host city."
“The games adapt to a city and a region, not the reverse” stated Dubi.
The Winter Games are especially challenging in this department and may require the games to be spread
out in order to focus on sustainability. This has also brought up a discussion of the rotation of cities and
what that could mean for future Winter Games. A potential host city must also prove that they can create a
legacy, not just during the games, but well in advance. The job of this pre-legacy is to inspire the youth, to
instill that love for sport and the Olympics in the children of these cities.
Dubi also discussed the perception that many have that hosting the Olympics has a negative economic
impact on the cities after the two weeks of competition. Each city has its own culture, personality and
themes that its Olympics must focus on in order to garner that sense of pride before, during and after the
games; and allows the legacy to be fostered so that it outlives the two weeks of competition.
Dubi explained that these perceptions are false, that the Olympics creates jobs for many and allows the
people within a city to reinvest in their home cities through ticket sales, merchandise and many other
things. The Olympics allows cities to reinvest in their local economies and revive their cities. Being a host
city also means that one must utilize their local industries to help foster a positive economic impact, and
to help with the legacy of the game. This economic impact also comes down to the utilization of the
Athlete Village during the game. During previous games, athletes would come to the village ten days
before the opening ceremony and stay until the closing ceremonies. Due to certain restrictions because of
Covid-19 and the size of the village, Tokyo 2020 saw the first restructuring of the athlete village that only
allowed athletes to stay from the opening ceremonies until the end of their sport.
Dubi sees this as a possibility to help host cities both economically and sustainably to ensure that a
positive legacy is left in every aspect of each Olympic Games and for each host city.
Building Towards Paris 2024
The focus on sustainability and reducing inactivity within France has been a prominent goal of the Paris
2024 Olympic Games.
“Paris had a vision that lasted far beyond the two weeks of competition,” explained Dembreville.
The host city has been committed to restructuring the games in order to reduce carbon emissions and
lower their carbon footprint exponentially compared to previous games. Marie Dembreville explained that
although everyone would love to see a Co2-free Olympic Games, that is impossible now. Instead, each
game is going to introduce new eco-friendly technologies and innovations that bring the IOC closer to a
fully sustainable and environmentally friendly Olympic Games.
Dembreville began her presentation by debunking the commonly heard myth that most infrastructures
from past Olympic Games are no longer in use. In actuality, 85% of all infrastructures built since the 1896
Olympics are still in use. Paris 2024 will include a number of sustainable innovations including its
decision to be a generator-free games. Generators use fossil fuels and are not sustainable, and Paris will
be the first host city to not use them within the infrastructure. Paris has also worked with the IOC to create
an almost completely temporary Olympic Village. The only infrastructure that will be permanent is the
aquatic centers, the media village, and the athlete’s village. Paris will also be utilizing its local
transportation such as the metro and potentially bikes to further reduce carbon emissions.
Dembreville explained that the IOC is already working with Los Angeles and Brisbane on their carbon
budgets.
Marie Barsacq focused her presentation on Paris’ focus on bringing the games to the city in order to
reduce inactivity among French citizens. The IOC has a goal of increasing physical activity among the
youth by 10% by 2025 and by 15% by 2030. The focus of Paris 2024 is to show how sports can change
lives in order to instill a love for sports and physical activity among the French youth.
In cooperation with the French government, Paris 2024 has created an initiative to get people active, from
schools to companies to the city itself. The government has made it mandatory for primary schools to
have a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity daily. It has provided schools with sports equipment
and kits to help students find sports that they love and are excited to play. This is being done at over
35,000 schools across France. The government has also worked with companies to allow workers to have
allocated time for physical activity during the workday to get people up and moving. Within cities, the
government has also helped with refurbishing parks and playgrounds to get communities active again.
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