Olympic 'stage': Paris has done 'magical job' setting many venues against City of Light's 'backdrop'
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00:00So just a day to go then until the Olympic Games officially gets underway
00:06with the opening ceremony here in Paris.
00:08The competition, though, already getting underway,
00:10most notable the start of the football,
00:12with a good start for France, who, despite nearly going behind to the US,
00:15well, they ended up winning 3-0.
00:17Difficult start elsewhere for the competition, though,
00:20as in another match, Morocco beat Argentina 2-1
00:23in a game that was actually suspended for about two hours
00:26because fans invaded the pitch deep into stoppage time.
00:29So is it all going to plan and is France ready?
00:33Well, joining me here on the programme is Michael Payne.
00:36He's former director of marketing for the IOC,
00:39also author of Tuning,
00:40the unofficial and entirely unsanctioned history of the Olympics.
00:44Great to have you with us on the programme.
00:45There were a couple of hiccups, weren't there yesterday?
00:48A very slow entry into some of the football games,
00:51that incident I mentioned as well, involving the Morocco-Argentina match.
00:55Not the perfect start, perhaps?
00:57But it's par for the course.
00:59I think every single game, when they start off,
01:01the first two or three days have always got some glitches.
01:05I mean, it's complicated.
01:06It's big.
01:07And it's the first time it all comes together
01:10and to create a unifying team and structure.
01:13I mean, we'll be lucky not to see a couple of other glitches,
01:16but normally by day three or four of the games,
01:20the organising committee, the security, they find their momentum.
01:23OK, we'll keep our fingers crossed.
01:25Some of the images of the stadiums look absolutely spectacular, don't they?
01:29With the looming monuments of the city aside those stadiums.
01:34What's your view on all of that?
01:36Spectacular.
01:37I don't think I've ever seen an Olympic Games
01:41with such a phenomenal backdrop.
01:44I mean, in Rio, they had Copacabana Beach, the Cristal,
01:48but Paris have done this just magical job
01:52of setting as many venues as possible against the backdrop of wonderful Paris.
01:58And I mean, the whole city has become the stage.
02:01And I think that's what will stand out of these games.
02:04I mean, friends and colleagues who've been going around the venues
02:07and they've been to many games, they've said they've seen nothing like it.
02:11The only difficulty is, of course, for people who actually live here,
02:14because it's not easy to get around Paris at the moment.
02:17And it's very true to say that an awful lot of people have left the city,
02:21people who live here.
02:22I would just say the Groundhog Day.
02:25I mean, the build up to London, where I was born,
02:30there was a naysayers and the traffic is difficult.
02:34You can't sort of host the games on a city,
02:36particularly like Paris is trying to do of spreading it through the buildings.
02:40But within a few days, the Olympic fever kicks in.
02:45And I think a lot of the people who left town afterwards were saying,
02:49we made a mistake, we shouldn't have gone.
02:51I mean, right back to Los Angeles in 84,
02:53you know, everybody left town and they said, why did we leave?
02:56And so you see this story with every games.
02:59It is difficult building up. It is complicated.
03:02Security doesn't get any easier.
03:06But once it kicks off, I mean, it's going to be one hell of a party.
03:09You've been involved in the Olympics for so long.
03:11How much time, how much organisation does it take to get to this stage?
03:17I don't think anybody can really fathom the sheer complexity of what is involved.
03:25If you think about the sport,
03:28they're producing 11,000 hours of sport over 17 days.
03:36The Soccer World Cup is 200 hours over a month.
03:41And, you know, the Americans talk about the Super Bowl.
03:44Well, this is 25 Super Bowls taking place at the same time in the same city.
03:51And once you've succeeded, you've got to do the whole thing again the next day and again for 17 days.
03:57So as a logistical undertaking, it is probably the biggest, single,
04:03most complex undertaking other than, you know, going to war.
04:07And you talk about the logistics there.
04:10One of the biggest logistics comes tomorrow, of course,
04:13that opening ceremony, which is happening on the River Seine.
04:17Yeah, it's bonkers.
04:18I mean, you've never seen anything so ambitious, so big.
04:23And when the idea was first presented, I think everybody looked around and said, wow.
04:28I mean, France certainly likes to think big.
04:33And with that does come one or two challenges.
04:36And do you think those challenges are going to be overcome?
04:39Well, the biggest challenge of all is security.
04:41And that's when you take an event outside of the controlled area of a stadium,
04:48you're magnifying that.
04:50But again, you see all of the steps that the French have taken, the French security.
04:57It's impressive.
04:59Weather is another challenge.
05:01And I think with luck, touch wood, we've managed to dodge a storm that was fleeting around.
05:07And it should be absolutely spectacular.
05:10I mean, in some ways, though, there are also two opening ceremonies.
05:14There's one for the public and the athletes attending, and the other one for television.
05:18And the way it is produced and presented is spectacular.
05:24OK, well, we look forward to seeing it all unfold over the coming weeks.
05:28Thanks very much for joining us on the programme today.
05:29Michael Payne, former director of marketing for the IOC.
05:32Thanks very much.