At the 2012 London Olympics, the last Olympic Games held in Europe, there were about 25,000 security personnel on hand. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, there will be three times as many. The French capital is "rolling out the largest peacetime security operation in the country's history" to protect around 10,500 athletes, 100 world leaders, and more than 10 million visitors for the Games beginning Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reports. Officials say up to 45,000 police, 10,000 soldiers, and 22,000 private security guards will be on hand. For Friday's opening ceremony on the Seine, to attract 300,000 onlookers, police will be stationed every 6 feet along the riverbank, which has been blocked from the public for a week.
Unlike London, which relegated festivities to the outskirts of the city, Paris is bringing the action to iconic locales at its heart. Place de la Concorde, Paris' largest public square, is hosting BMX bike races, skateboarding, and breakdancing; the Eiffel Tower is hosting beach volleyball; the 17th-century Invalides military complex, home of Napoleon's tomb, is hosting archery events; the Grand Palais historic site and museum is hosting fencing and taekwondo; and the Seine is hosting the opening ceremony. The idea is "to allow access for as many people as possible," Nicolas Nordman, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of security, tells the Journal. "That means the security challenges are clearly more significant than doing this in a stadium."
For the first time, US police departments will be assisting an overseas Olympics host. Officers from New York, Los Angeles, and Virginia's Fairfax County will join some 1,750 foreign police from dozens of countries, per the BBC and Journal. French officials say there have been no specific threats, though they're preparing for potential attacks by Islamist militants and sabotage stemming from Russia or Iran.
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Authorities said Tuesday that a Russian man was arrested and charged with planning an operation to sow disorder. Some 45,000 police will be deployed for the opening ceremony and 30,000 for each subsequent day, with private security and soldiers to intervene in case of a terror attack, per the Guardian. Additionally, 44,000 barriers have been erected, and numerous roads and Metro stations have been closed. (More 2024 Paris Olympics stories.)
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