Paris Olympics’ ambitious opening ceremony poses a great security risk but US chief insists the French HAVE learnt from past Champions League chaos and ISIS threat (…despite Team USA’s plan to bring 70 agents!)

With the Paris Olympics fast approaching, French President Emmanuel Macron has admitted the ambitious opening ceremony could be scrapped due to security threats. And Team USA is on high alert.

The Paris Olympiad is currently opening with an amazing four-hour spectacle along the Seine. Athletes will parade six kilometers across the river on 160 boats, starting at the Austerlitz Bridge and ending at the Trocadero, with a record crowd of 326,000 expected at the opening ceremony. A security nightmare.

A security nightmare that will take place just over two years removed from the disaster in the Champions League final in the French capital.

Less than a year ago, the Rugby World Cup experienced similar problems at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille.

And just over 100 days after the risk of World War III turned the world upside down and ISIS threatened football matches in the city.

But USOPC Chief Security and Athlete Services Officer Nicole Deal insists the French have learned their lesson.

“I think they learned from their experiences, and that gives me reassurance,” she said at the Team USA Media Summit in New York last month.

“They’re not stuck in their ways. They learn and adapt their security to the crowds.

‘For example, I will deploy football crowds for the Olympic Games. They are very different from the World Cup or Champion League crowd. So you have to adapt your security to that crowd and the threat they pose. I think they really responded to that and understood the differences.”

Deal is constantly on the road with weeks to go until the Paris Olympics, flying back and forth between the French capital and the United States to coordinate with French and other national governing bodies.

And Deal, a former special agent at the US State Department, insists that “super-cooperative” French authorities have things under control.

They have already carried out numerous procedures to ensure the area is safe, she explains.

Stickers have been placed on vehicles parked along the roads and background checks have been conducted on residents of the buildings. Hotels will be under strict control and access to the river will be limited.

They have been working with the NYPD to learn from the annual closure of Times Square for New Year’s Eve. They rely on their experience closing the Champs Elysees for the Tour de France, which provided reassurance to Deal, who witnessed it first-hand last year.

“It will be a well-orchestrated symphony that day,” she emphasizes.

“They understand it’s going to take a big undertaking, but it’s a balance of safety. They are now finding that sweet spot.

“We’re in the phase of crossing the Ts and dotting the Is and refining the plan, but it takes a lot of work.”

Preparations were hit last week when a test for the opening ceremony was postponed after heavy rain increased the flow of the River Seine.

The technical test for the boats on which the athletes will participate in the six-kilometer parade was scheduled to take place on May 27, but was postponed due to recent heavy rains.

‘The current of the Seine is too high. We are trying to get as close as possible to the real conditions of July 26,” Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor for sports, told Reuters.

A new date has yet to be set, but the dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony is still scheduled for June 17.

In March, Paris 2024 organizers almost halved the number of spectators allowed to attend the opening ceremony in the city center, reducing the number from 600,000 to 326,000.

“They changed the crowd size and I was really happy with it,” Deal said. ‘They changed the number of spectators and I was very happy because you have to be agile and flexible at the same time, it’s a balancing act. If you know you can’t meet the safety threshold, you have to reduce the crowds.”

But all the planning in the world can’t disguise the fact that the Paris Olympics leaves its athletes naked and out in the open.

And when asked if Team USA members have declined to get on the boats, Deal said “not yet,” suggesting she hasn’t completely ruled out the possibility.

She admits that if an athlete, whether American or not, refuses to participate, it could cause a domino effect and the French may have to turn to Plan B.

And Plan B is something Macron is already thinking about.

The French president confirmed earlier this year that it would be an option to move the opening ceremony to the Stade de France, returning to a traditional ceremony.

Macron’s comments came a week after an apparent threat by a regional affiliate of the Islamic State against Champions League matches across Europe.

Security was stepped up in Paris – where Paris Saint-Germain hosted Barcelona at the Parc des Princes – Madrid, for Real Madrid’s match with Manchester City, and in the Emirates, where Arsenal hosted Bayern Munich.

All three ties passed without incident, but French authorities went so far as to set up a BRI (Investigation and Intervention Brigade) with their elite counter-terrorism brigade after a report was shared by the Al-Azaim Foundation, a media outlet responsible for spreading messages from the terrorist group. ISIS-K branch of the terrorist group.

Meanwhile, Iran launched an unprecedented 350-missile attack on Israel in April, which Israeli President Isaac Herzog described as a “declaration of war.”

Deal absorbs the news every day and admits she keeps a close eye on events in the Middle East.

“We have to stay agile,” says Deal. “But that’s certainty, you have a plan A, you have a plan B, you have Plan C and if that doesn’t work out, you go to plan D. If you’re steadfast, that’s a recipe for failure.”

When asked if any credible threats had been made by French authorities, Deal insisted none had been made to Team USA.

But the US will not leave its security in the hands of the French. The USOPC works closely with the State Department and brings seventy agents to France to support them on the ground

Officers will be stationed in all sports in which American athletes compete. Some will be embedded in team sports teams, while others will have a constant presence at facilities for individual athletes who want to train at any time of the day.

‘It is not a risk or threat matrix. It’s more about what makes sense for that sport,” Deal explains.

‘[…] It makes them feel comfortable when they go to the games. I don’t want security to be a distraction.”

But one specific sport requires more attention this year: basketball.

Brittney Griner is expected to be one of the faces of the U.S. women’s basketball team in Paris, 19 months after her release from a Russian prison in connection with a prisoner swap with the U.S. following her 2022 arrest at a Moscow airport on drug-related charges.

Deal reveals that the team has worked closely with NBA security and that there will be high-profile security for all of American basketball in Paris.

The development of technology has already advanced to the point where Paris is a tougher game to navigate than Tokyo was three years ago.

It means the Paris Games present their own unique challenges that Deal hasn’t faced before, and the biggest? Cybersecurity and Russia.

Russian athletes will not compete in Paris, but Deal reveals she is concerned about the cyber security threat – especially from the Russians, whether they are at the games or not. “It’s always a risk,” she emphasizes.

Because safety is critical at this year’s games, Deal won’t breathe a sigh of relief until the last American athlete is on a plane home.