Seine-Saint-Denis hosts Olympic Day 2022 on Sunday, less than 800 days from the 2024 Paris Olympics
The opportunity for the organizing committee to highlight the 93, where several Olympic events will take place
The map of events in Seine-Saint-Denis has recently changed.
Shooting has thus been replaced by boxing qualifications
It was a punchline like Thierry Henry knows how to deliver 40 a minute.
"Believe me, you don't want to be in Saint-Denis, it's not the same as Paris", had dropped the former French international on the set of the Paramount Plus platform, anxious to make known to the English-speaking world the subtleties of Ile-de-France geography.
And clichés on Seine-Saint-Denis, which obviously go badly with the PS mayor of the city, Mathieu Hanotin.
The latter will respond with a pamphlet on social networks, the first words of which bitterly echo those of Titi.
“You are right, Saint-Denis is not Paris…”
For a day at least, this statement will be false.
Sunday, Saint-Denis will be Paris 2024: the festivities linked to the Olympic day will be held right next to the Stade de France.
A long-standing wish – delayed by the Covid-19 years – supposed to establish the department of Seine-Saint-Denis as a stronghold of the 2024 Olympics. “Less than 800 days from the Games, this Olympic day is a bit of a a taste of 2024 for 93, welcomes Stéphane Troussel, president of the departmental council.
This meeting will be a concrete example of the involvement of residents in the Games with spin-offs in terms of training, jobs, sport, image and inclusion.
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The shot is taken, the boxing is coming
On the program, a demonstration of around thirty Olympic sports, with around a hundred athletes on site.
“We even overflow a little from Olympic sports to make it a great sporting and cultural celebration”, adds Michaël Aloisio, director of cabinet of Tony Estanguet.
This day also sounds like a deep breath after months of dialogue.
On the one hand with associations and local residents, who sometimes disagree on certain projects (Saint-Denis motorway interchange, work on the media village temporarily interrupted for questions of environmental impact, etc.).
On the other hand, on the new card of the Olympic events hosted by the 9-3, which has just lost the shot but recovers the boxing qualifications, which will probably be held in Villepinte.
Aloisio: “On shooting, we encountered a problem with the timing of operations because the site is very complex, but also because there is a risk of additional cost.
We wondered how to find an alternative that does not come at the expense of Seine-Saint-Denis.
" It makes :
In parallel there was the question of boxing qualifications.
Rather than putting them in another room, we thought it might be an opportunity to move them there, knowing that it is a sport that interests people a lot in Seine-Saint-Denis.
They are very happy, finally, to welcome boxing.
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A discourse fairly widely taken up by Stéphane Troussel.
The latter insists on the win-win aspect of the new agreement.
“The overall balance of tests in the department remains positive.
We didn't have boxing, which sticks more than shooting to the DNA of our department, we didn't have wheelchair volleyball and pentathlon fencing.
It's positive.
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"In the 93, one in two children does not know how to swim when they arrive at college"
Enough to recover from the disappointment of the first broken promises according to the official speech.
Before the shot, swimming had made its way to La Défense and volleyball had left Le Bourget.
The media village will be less stocked (700 housing units compared to 1,200 initially planned).
But nothing alarming for the legacy of these Games, the main concern of political actors and associations in Seine-Saint-Denis.
The figures are even reassuring.
The 93 is the territory that will benefit the most from the investments of Solideo (Olympic works delivery company), at more than 80%.
“La Courneuve retains its status as a host city, notes Stéphane Troussel, the Marville swimming pool remains a training site.
" Everything's fine.
Maintaining the Marville basin is not insignificant in an area where swimming is far from king.
Member of the France water polo team, Mehdi Marzouki gives the story: “In 93, we are the department with the fewest basins in Ile-de-France compared to the population.
It's going to be a big boost.
You should know that here, one out of two children who does not know how to swim when they arrive at college.
This is due to the lack of swimming pools.
We see it when we train after school, there are 20 in a line, there is not enough space, equipment, slots.
Having more swimming pools with these Olympics is super important, because knowing how to swim is like knowing how to walk.
It's part of the education of life.
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Without the Noisy-le-Sec swimming pool near which he grew up, Marzouki would probably have done like everyone else: feel the soccer ball in the street.
He would have spared himself the remarks of mocking friends on this ball sport which is played in the fleet just as he would probably never have participated in the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Involve the youth of Seine-Saint-Denis in the Olympic Games
There is always a story of the playground next to the house in the stories of pro sportsmen from the 9-3.
Diandra Tchatchouang, newly retired and bronze medalist in Tokyo with the French basketball team, started out on the playgrounds of La Courneuve, before playing in a club, "because the boys didn't let us play too much, so with my sister, we asked to be registered in a team”, without any other perspective than to get off with an orange ball.
It's not that the Olympics weren't a dream, they just didn't exist.
As a child, I didn't necessarily have any benchmarks in relation to what the Olympics represented.
It was only afterwards that I got to know the dream team and it happened.
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It is no coincidence that the relationship with the Seine-Saint-Denis Youth Games and its involvement in the event have been the priority of the organizers for the past two years.
"Games without the inhabitants, that does not make sense, underlines Stéphane Troussel.
They cannot see the Games being prepared at the foot of their homes without taking advantage of it.
Diandra Tchatchouang shares this observation and works with her Study Hall 93 association to ensure that as many young people as possible can join the ranks of Paris 2024 volunteers.
“In Tokyo, there isn't a volunteer who doesn't speak English.
So throughout the school year, we set up language courses during the school holidays.
The objective is to learn English and Spanish through sport so that our young people can acquire as much linguistic knowledge as possible in order to be part of the Paris 2024 teams as volunteers.
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Our Paris 2024 Olympics file
The Olympic flame should also pass through 93, where a fan zone is planned.
Finally, Club France will take root on its doorstep, near La Villette, so that everyone can come and celebrate the medal winners and try out different sports.
Michaël Aloisio concludes: “One of the CNOSF projects is to make the link between Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis.
No offense to Thierry Henry.
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