General assembly on the dissolution of the Public Interest Group
The Paris 2024 Public Interest Group (Bid Committee) was officially dissolved at its final General Assembly today, which was attended by representatives of the City of Paris, the French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF), the French National Paralympic Committee (CPSF), the State and the Île-de-France Region, The gathering provided an opportunity to highlight the sound financial management of the Paris 2024 Public Interest Group, which closed its books with a surplus of €6.7m, more than 10% of its total budget.

That sum will be redistributed to the stakeholders that helped fund the Paris 2024 Bid Committee, and will go entirely towards funding initiatives supporting the development of sport.

The Paris 2024 Executive Board
The Paris 2024 Executive Board also met today, with Roxana Maracineanu, the French Minister for Sport, attending for the first time since her appointment to the position on 4 September.

Though the Executive Board meeting was held at the Stade Jean Bouin, the venue for the Olympic rugby sevens competitions at Paris 2024, football did not fail to make an appearance. In keeping with Paris 2024’s desire to be inclusive, its President Tony Estanguet sought to broaden the scope of proceedings by inviting three distinguished members of the French Football Federation (FFF) to share their experience of France’s historic success at this summer’s World Cup in Russia.

FFF President Noël Le Graët and its General Manager Florence Hardouin spoke of sport’s unique ability to bring people together and unite a whole country, and of the various stages involved in the process that led to France’s triumph. France’s national team manager Didier Deschamps, who is busy selecting his squad for their upcoming matches on 16 and 20 November, spoke by video link and gave the Executive Board members his views on how to get the best out of a team.

Their contributions came in support of Paris 2024’s efforts to stage Olympic and Paralympic Games that will bring people from all over France together, and make sport and its values an integral part of their everyday lives.

Another distinguished contributor to the meeting was Professor Muhammad Yunus, the winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, who spoke by audio link from the Global Social Business Summit currently being held in Wolfsburg, Germany, and restated his commitment to the legacy and sustainability of Paris 2024. Professor Yunus will visit France on 19 November to speak to social and solidarity economy (SSE) stakeholders on its integration in the creation of the Paris 2024 project.

The Paris 2024 Executive Board also approved the appointment of two new members who are both experts in their fields: Michel Cymes and Eric Pliez both of whom were heavily involved in the bid phase. They will take up their seats when the Board next meets (see the attachment for a full list of the members of the Paris 2024 Executive Board).

A distinguished ENT specialist and a well-known champion of the benefits of physical activity, Michel Cymes will lend Paris 2024 his expertise on all health issues, working with the “For a fit France” panel of experts and helping Paris 2024 in its bid to fight sedentary lifestyles and promote sport.

Chief Executive of the charity Aurore since 2001, Eric Pliez is also the President of Samu Social Paris (a position he has held since 2013 and for whom he coordinates all homeless accommodation services in the Île-de-France region) and the charity Les Canaux (since December 2017). Trained as a special-needs teacher and actively committed to a large number of charities working in favour of social integration and fighting against exclusion, Pliez will help Paris 2024 in its bid to promote sustainable employment in the city’s neighbourhoods and the growth of the social and solidarity economy.

An update was also provided on key issues, chief among them the venues/sports concept approved by the IOC’s Executive Board in Buenos Aires in October, and ongoing work relating to the legacy of the Games.

Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet: “This is a very special day in the history and creation of our project. It brings the Bid Committee’s story to an extremely positive close, with the Paris 2024 Public Interest Group ending its books with a €6.7m surplus. That figure is a reflection of the hard work undertaken over a period of nearly three years, and we are especially proud of the fact that the public players who support us on a daily basis will reinvest the money entirely in the development of sport. We are also delighted to welcome Michel Cymes and Eric Pliez on to the Paris 2024 Executive Board. Their respective expertise in the field of health and social integration will be invaluable to us in strengthening the impact of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”