by Mick the Ram

What was planned as an Olympic Games opening ceremony “like no other” could fall victim to security threats and have to be drastically scaled down.

Originally, for the first time the traditional stadium parades and accompanying entertainment have been passed over, in favour of an ambitious route along the River Seine, with thousands of athletes

riding in boats, in front of 600,000 spectators watching from the banks along the route.

That number has already been almost halved and those that do attend will be by invite only.

It is due to end at the Trocadero square, facing the Eiffel Tower, but President Emmanuel Macron has admitted that the whole thing could have to be scaled down or even scraped completely, if the security threat nearer the date is deemed too high.

It might be that the event is held just at the Trocadero, or possibly moved in its entirety to the Stade de France.

It has already been revealed that French intelligence services uncovered two separate plots by Islamic militants at the start of the year.

Security nightmare

The Paris Games will take place between 26 July and 11 August, with 10,500 athletes from 206 different countries, set to participate in 329 events. These will be followed just over two weeks later by the Paralympics, running from 28 August to 8 September. In these there will be 4,400 athletes from 184 different countries, in 549 events.

Over 15 million tourists are expected to spend time in the French capital over the course of the two events. As good as these numbers are for the Paris economy, it is also a security nightmare.

Athletes on barges

The spectacular opening ceremony has been meticulously planned, but such an enterprising change of direction brings with it inevitable challenges from a safety perspective.

Just keeping the 160 barges afloat during their 6km sail up the river is headache enough, but with tensions all over the world and “very real threats” being issued, questions of the wisdom of such a move are bound to be asked.

Plan B or C?

It has prompted Mr Macron to finally admit that there is now a chance that they may be forced to limit it to just the Trocadéro, which would be a real shame.

That he said would be “Plan B”, but he also suggested there is a “Plan C” which would see the whole ceremony shifted across the city to the Stade de France, where the main athletics events will be held later in the competition, and essentially reverting to tradition. Mr Macron added that they were preparing for all eventualities in parallel and they would be analysed in real time.

The French government is using somewhere in the region of 20,000 soldiers and in advance of double that number in police officers, to provide sufficient security over the duration. Additional support will be on hand from more than 2,000 troops and police personnel from other countries.

President’s promise amid risks to health warning

Just to add to French concerns as the Olympics get closer, is an on-going issue with the quality of the water in the River Seine. Evidence of E.coli has been discovered in batches, prompting medical experts to suggest athletes swimming in the water would  be “taking significant risks to their health”.

This puts the whole triathlon into doubt, although in an attempt to ease concerns, the Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, along with Mr Macron himself, have promised to take a dip in the river before the start of the Games, to demonstrate its safety.

As noble a gesture that may be, in reality it is not quite the same as immersing yourself for an extended period and taking in significant quantities of the river’s content.