'Showjumping will be taking place just in front of the canal'
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00:00 Well, Versailles, an absolute showpiece of a site to hold the equestrian.
00:04 So you talked a bit there about the preparations ahead of it.
00:08 Well, as you can see, there's not much to be seen actually for now
00:11 because all the preparation is actually going on behind the scenes
00:14 and everything is going to be set up further on throughout the year.
00:18 So you can't see the castle, which is in front of us.
00:20 We pointed instead more towards the gardens of the castle,
00:25 the gardens, which I'm guessing you're quite familiar with
00:27 as thousands of people come to visit this site every year.
00:30 And so the show jumping will be taking place in front of the canal just there,
00:35 as will the dressage, while the cross-country will be taking the athletes
00:38 all around the canal behind.
00:40 So it's going to be everything taking place in the garden of the Château de Versailles,
00:45 which is a hugely symbolic site, obviously, for horse riding and for France.
00:51 It doesn't get much better than that here around Paris.
00:54 And so not too much for now to actually put into place
00:57 because obviously, unlike other sites around Paris,
01:00 the site is actually already here.
01:01 The castle's been here for hundreds of years, of course.
01:04 It's been the home of several kings in France where they had their horses as well.
01:09 So not too much to organize compared to other sites,
01:12 but everything, from what we heard here from the organizers here,
01:15 that everything is going smoothly
01:17 because they actually know what they have to play with,
01:20 how much there is, how much space there is,
01:22 and how many people they're going to be able to welcome,
01:24 depending on the events,
01:25 it's going to be between 15,000 and 40,000 people behind us.
01:29 And the castle will remain open throughout the Games
01:31 for visitors to also be able to come and visit the castle, as they always do.
01:35 So in theory, things go smoothly, James.
01:37 What about the sport, though?
01:39 Because for France to get involved and get really excited by this in a year's time,
01:43 of course, the athletes have to play their part as well.
01:45 Yeah, they do.
01:48 And that's the thing, isn't it, with host nations?
01:50 Obviously, you're hosting a huge event, the Olympics,
01:53 but you've got to deliver as they did in London, as they did in Tokyo.
01:58 But for France, it's been a quite different story in the last Olympics,
02:01 and the challenge is going to be to really get more medals than they have done recently.
02:05 So yes, it's good that they have all these sites,
02:07 and they're going to just have to deliver on it.
02:10 But for now, in the equestrians, well, they got gold in Rio twice,
02:13 they got bronze in Tokyo,
02:14 but those were the only medals in 40 years, just to give you an idea.
02:18 So still a lot of work to be done for them.
02:20 It's more about Team GB and Germany when it comes to that.
02:23 But if they do want to try and stand up,
02:25 then they're going to have to improve that performance on there in these sites.
02:28 And as you're going to see throughout the rest of the day,
02:31 yes, this site is quite spectacular,
02:32 but it's going to be far from the only spectacular site
02:34 as we take you around Paris throughout this whole day,
02:37 ahead of the opening ceremony set to take place then in exactly a year's time.