2024 Olympics: Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo looking forward to the Games' '20 years of heritage'
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00:00Big day of team sports at the Olympics with women's basketball semifinals, both football finals.
00:07The day began in the Seine, where after the women it was the men's turn for the swimming marathon.
00:13After 10 grueling kilometers it ended with a sprint.
00:17Hungary's Krzysztof Rzeszowski edging Oliver Klement of Germany to the finish.
00:24And Hungarian David Betlehem pipping Italy's Domenico Acciarenza by a fingertip for the bronze.
00:34France took bronze in the table tennis team event, edging Japan three matches to two.
00:41Once again it was the youngest of the Lebrun brothers, 17-year-old Felix anchoring Les Bleus with a come-from-behind win.
00:48Following it all for us, France 24's Celina Sykes.
00:55After captivating an entire nation, the Lebrun brothers and Simon Gauzy have won a historic bronze medal in the team
01:03table tennis event after coming out on top of a marathon five-setter against Japan.
01:08France were 2-0 ahead after Alexis and Simon Gauzy dominated in their doubles match
01:16to take the opening set before Felix Lebrun came out on top of a tense and close encounter
01:22against Toma Kazuharimoto with Felix Lebrun coming out on top in the fifth game,
01:29a tense fifth game where he had to come from behind to win that setter free to the Japanese,
01:34then fought back as both Alexis and Simon Gauzy lost their individual matches
01:41and then it was all up to the 17-year-old table tennis prodigy Felix to seal a glory for the French
01:49and he didn't make it easy for the crowd, it took him four match points to get that win for the French
01:56but he did it winning the fourth game to win that free one.
02:02That means that France have a second bronze medal here at the Olympics in table tennis
02:08after Felix's individual bronze which makes this the most successful Olympics for France in terms of table tennis.
02:16Sporting success helping to make these very popular games indeed,
02:21games that were much maligned before they began.
02:24Let's cross to France 24's James André.
02:28James, the end is near for Paris 2024.
02:31The mayor speaking earlier, can we call her press conference a victory lap?
02:38Yeah, in a sense it was a bit of a victory lap with indeed Anne Hidalgo saying how these games had been an enormous success,
02:44also saying that the legacy of these games was going to endure in decades to come,
02:49that it was an opportunity to give an incredible image of the city of Paris
02:53and we managed to interview her with Valentin Herbin as she ended that press conference.
02:58This is what she had to say when I was able to ask her a question.
03:03What I feel is the happiness of seeing my city, our city, celebrated by the French people,
03:10including those who perhaps had a fairly negative image of Paris.
03:14It's 10 years of hard work.
03:18We've just experienced 15 days of happiness that we will have again with the Paralympics
03:24and then it will be 20 years of heritage.
03:26So, it's not just a moment in time.
03:29This is my message.
03:35James Andre, what is that heritage?
03:39Well, what she says, Anne Hidalgo, is that basically stuff that would have taken over 20 years to achieve
03:44were done in a very short lapse of time thanks to the Olympics.
03:47Saying that basically what it gave this ceremony and of course these Olympics was a deadline
03:54and this deadline empowered people to react.
03:57Now, she said, you know, it was decided back in 2015 basically to have a bid
04:01and to try and get these Olympic Games.
04:04So, it's 10 years of work.
04:05And she said, for example, you know, here on the other side of the Seine, this used to be an urban waterway.
04:09Well, now it's a park.
04:10She said, we did that in 2017 and that in a sense is thanks to the Olympic Games.
04:14She said, it's been able to boost pedestrian zones, also cycling in the city of Paris.
04:20She said, you know, 1,770 platforms were modified for buses to become accessible to disabled people.
04:28She said, that would have never happened if there hadn't been the Olympic Games.
04:32What she also said was, of course, the biggest legacy in her view is the Seine River, which has been depolluted.
04:38And she says, you'll see, next year we will be swimming in the Seine River
04:42and that is a result of the Olympic Games themselves.
04:45Now, I did put the question about, you know, taxi drivers complaining, restaurants complaining.
04:51And basically she said that, you know, participation, this was her deputy saying that 20% up was the number of visitors here in Paris.
05:00And she said, don't worry, this legacy economically will endure and these people will make all that money back.
05:05And we'll be talking about it in the final edition of Destination Paris.
05:09That's coming up in a little under two hours' time.
05:11Many thanks, James André.
05:13That's it for this edition. You're watching France 24.