2024 Olympics - General commentary

budwom said:
The mayor of France was on the evening news the other night, making a cordial but unconvincing case that the Seine would be ready for swimmers.
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I am in Paris now and am worried about the Seine as well as the readiness of the city in general. They are working feverishly to get a stadium built in the Place de la Concorde and there is construction going on throughout the Tuileries, around the Louvre, etc. Traffic is a huge problem right now—I cannot imagine what it will be like during Olympics. The city will be raising prices everywhere (metro tickets will double from 2€ to 4€, as an example). Several waiters and even Uber drivers told us they plan to leave during the Olympics as it will be too crazy!
 
That's par for the course for any city hosting the Olympics. I was just there a couple weeks back and it felt like they are pretty well prepared - if you try to drive in Paris and complain about the traffic, you're doing it to yourself really. Of all cities in the world, I can think of very few that could deal with the massive influx of tourists that the Olympics invariably causes as well as Paris - some degree of this happens every summer.
 
When I visit major cities I use the local metros....the one in Paris is great, no need to deal with a car...not much one can do about the crush of people visiting the Olympics...gotta plan ahead. We dealt well with the 1976 Montreal Olympics, sneaking back across the border at night. Great fun, amazing people watching...
 
The metro will be the best way to go here in Paris. Which is why they have doubled the fare during the Olympics. The locals are very upset about that, but 4€ still seems like a good deal to me.
The Seine is another issue…I wouldn’t want to swim in it.
 

My flaming hot take: Victor Wembanyama is already the best player in the world. He’s for sure the best defensive player already, but I don’t think most people realize he does everything at an elite level. Passing, shooting, shot creation. 7’4” and 8’0” wingspan. This Olympics is going to be his coming out party.

He’s unbelievable. I hate the spurs for being the luckiest franchise in the history of sports.
 
I recall the warnings issued in 1996 by the Atlanta olympic organizers and the local governments to stay clear of downtown during the games. They projected 4 hour traffic jams and imagined many horror stories to discourage driving. It was over the top. Midway through the games we decided to drive downtown to the olympic park and had the easiest commute into Atlanta in the 38 years I have lived here. I guess the scare tactics worked and most people indeed stayed away.
 
Atldukie79 said:
I recall the warnings issued in 1996 by the Atlanta olympic organizers and the local governments to stay clear of downtown during the games. They projected 4 hour traffic jams and imagined many horror stories to discourage driving. It was over the top. Midway through the games we decided to drive downtown to the olympic park and had the easiest commute into Atlanta in the 38 years I have lived here. I guess the scare tactics worked and most people indeed stayed away.
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The easiest I have ever driven through Midtown was during the ‘96 Olympics!
 
Atldukie79 said:
I recall the warnings issued in 1996 by the Atlanta olympic organizers and the local governments to stay clear of downtown during the games. They projected 4 hour traffic jams and imagined many horror stories to discourage driving. It was over the top. Midway through the games we decided to drive downtown to the olympic park and had the easiest commute into Atlanta in the 38 years I have lived here. I guess the scare tactics worked and most people indeed stayed away.
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Same thing for the '84 Olympics in Los Angeles. People heeded the many warnings which resulted in actual traffic being much lighter than normal.
 
My wife was the Director of Accreditation (security clearance, ID badges, uniforms) for volunteers at the 1996 games. She got to run with the torch, which was super cool. We still have her torch on display in our house.

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(that is me, at least my arm and shoulder, alongside her)

She got me a side gig (when I was done with work at CNN every day) doing "staging" for the basketball competition. It meant that I got to organize each team as they walked out before each game with some lucky young kid in front of them carrying the flag. When it came time for Team USA to walk out, John Stockton was at the front of the line (shortest guy on the team) and he was so raring to go, I had to stick out my arm to hold him back from stampeding the poor kid who was leading them out. I sorta, kinda clotheslined Stockton. Reggie Miller, who was 2nd or 3rd in line, nearly fell down he was laughing so hard from me almost sending Stockton to the emergency room.

It was great fun and I never had any trouble getting around during the games. I went to a ton of events during the two weeks or so that the games were in town. Good times (other than when a bomb went off in the park jut across the street from my office).
 
I remember Atlanta fondly. Members of our volleyball club from Greenville SC helped with the beach volleyball events at Atlanta Beach south of town. We were scorekeepers and ran the computers keeping track of the action. Note: the scoring program was lousy and computers were slow.
Here's a pic of the venue. We, and the computers, were under the stands behind the glass in air conditioned comfort.

We visited the main Olympic areas during our off times and didn't have much trouble with traffic.
 

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CameronBornAndBred said:
The guy photobombing to the left is perfect. Reminds me of this dude.

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