A few days ahead of the IOC Coordination Commission’s first visit to Paris, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, Anne Hidalgo, President of SOLIDEO and Mayor of Paris, and Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024, have signed the joint funding protocol for the Paris 2024 Games in the company of all key stakeholders. The protocol guarantees that proposed budgets will be scrupulously respected; reinforces the “legacy” aspect of the project with its focus on delivering benefits to communities; and enables the optimisation of the Games plan, in order to further improve the experience of every participant group.

On September 13 2017, Paris was elected Host City for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. France and Paris achieved this victory based on an ambitious bid – both in terms of the sports plan, and in the physical and social legacy to be generated for people in the host communities. Its success also relied on demonstrating a commitment to budgetary sobriety, in order to ensure that each Euro spent will deliver maximum value and benefit to French people.

Once the victory had been achieved, and in line with their commitments, the Paris 2024 Committee, the French State and the City of Paris immediately began a process to consolidate the Games masterplan, in particular to take account of IOC feedback and its “New Norm” and Olympic Agenda 2020 recommendations, while also taking care to respect the International Federations’ expectations.

The collective work to optimise the Olympic and Paralympic project has been driven by the Paris 2024 Committee, presided by Tony Estanguet, and SOLIDEO, presided by Anne Hidalgo, in close consultation with the State, the various local authorities and lead developers.

This foundation work is just the first step in a process that will continue over coming months, with the involvement all key stakeholders, and especially the national and international sports federations.

The aim is to deliver a final masterplan that is optimised for all stakeholders in the Games, based on three core pillars that underpin Paris 2024’s strength:
- An exceptional concept, further improved for an even better athlete experience
- A strong and certain legacy for all stakeholders in the Games
- Controlled costs, in line with commitments made during the bid phase

This morning, following the Executive Board meetings of Paris 2024 and SOLIDEO, Edouard Philippe, France’s Prime Minister – accompanied by Sports Minister Laura Flessel and Sophie Cluzel, the Prime Minister’s Secretary of State with responsibility for disabled people – Anne Hidalgo, President of SOLIDEO and Mayor of Paris, and Tony Estanguet, Président de Paris 2024, officially signed the joint funding protocol for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the company of other key stakeholders in the Games – representatives of the sports movement and authorities affected by Games-related investments.

In particular, the protocol makes the following provisions:

The Olympic Aquatics Centre will remain a permanent facility, but with a redefined concept to help control costs, while also delivering a stronger legacy for local residents and, in particular, the children of Seine-Saint-Denis. The Games project will ultimately lead to the creation of eight legacy pools, in place of the five originally planned. They will help to meet a real need in a department with a significant shortage of community sports facilities, and where only half of children leave primary school able to swim. This significant and meaningful legacy can be comfortably accommodated within the Games budget. To enable it, Paris 2024 will increase its financial contribution to the project by more than 40 million Euros compared to its bid-phase provision.

The Athletes’ Village will be maintained in its proposed location and according to existing plans. Legacy benefits of real value to the local area and its residents are expected to include: the undergrounding of power lines; new housing; the creation of new green spaces; and the building of an anti-noise wall.

Tony Estanguet, le Président de Paris 2024 said: “Paris 2024’s ambition is to stage Games that are different, and which will light up history. The “New Norm” put in place by the IOC, in the framework of Agenda 2020, is shared by everyone involved in co-creating this great project. We want these Games to surprise people – with the celebration and the capacity to meet citizens’ expectations, and also in terms of keeping to the budget envelope agreed. The signing of this protocol is proof of the merits of our approach, and the product of collective work towards an ambition shared by all stakeholders. We are proud to be leading the Games into a new era. Our project is getting stronger every day. Today, it is already much stronger than on 14 September last year, following our win. But the work continues. And together with all our partners, the IOC, the IPC and all the committed stakeholders alongside us, we will continue to work every day to offer Games of ever greater benefit to our country.”

Anne Hidalgo, President of SOLIDEO and Mayor of Paris said: “When Paris was named Host City, we were careful to insist that guarantees were put in place ensuring the Games budget would be scrupulously respected, and that the highest ethical standards would be applied to the project. The commitments undertaken by all stakeholders this morning, are going to enable us, as expected, to reconcile strict cost management with a powerful legacy for our local communities, based on investments that will deliver real value for residents.”