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Mayor Anne Hidalgo returned to the French capital on Monday with the Olympic flag from Tokyo ahead of Paris’s turn to host the Games in 2024.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo brandished the Olympic flag after disembarking from the Air France flight that brought many of France’s Olympic medalists back to Charles de Gaulle airport.
Hidalgo, who formally received the flag Sunday during the Tokyo closing ceremony from International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, told reporters the flag “is the symbol that now, really, the Paris Games are coming”, adding: They will be “very positive for our country”.
Paris ‘will be ready’, says Mayor Hidalgo
She said the Tokyo Games were “organised in very difficult conditions” because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
French basketball star Evan Fournier, whose team won silver in Tokyo, told FRANCE 24 that “the [Olympic] village felt like normal to be honest; there were a lot of athletes talking to each other and not as many restrictions as I thought”.
French basketball star Evan Fournier talks to FRANCE 24
French organisers will stay in touch with Japanese counterparts to prepare for the Paris Games, including on security issues, Hidalgo said.
The Olympic flag was raised at Paris City Hall later on Monday. A celebration then took place at Trocadéro square, which overlooks the Eiffel Tower, where people welcomed the French medalists home.
Let’s get it started!
Les Jeux Olympiques de #Paris2024 commencent !
Ouvrons ensemble un nouveau chapitre des Jeux.Together, let’s write a new chapter of the Olympic Games.
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— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) August 8, 2021
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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