The 2024 Paris Olympics kicks off on Friday and athletes
are getting ready for the opening ceremony and the events.
This is a live picture from the American University of
Paris and the beautiful Eiffel Tower.
The Otes Send department on the outskirts of Paris hosted
the Olympic torch relay.
Now the relay began its tour of the western suburbs
of the French capital.
It was at the estate of 19th century poet and
statesman Francois Rene de Chateaubriand.
Now, the relay continues in Saint Saint Denis and will
culminate with the lighting of the cauldron during the opening
ceremony on Friday.
The excitement is building in Paris as the Summer Olympics
are set to take center stage tomorrow in a unique
and magical opening ceremony along the Sun River.
Now, Team USA will have more than
350 athletes take part in the ceremony as boats carry
them down the river.
World leaders are attending as well,
and that's putting a focus on security.
Alyssa Orange will be our reporter in Paris covering the
games for the next 2 1/2 weeks,
and she joins us now near the Arc de Triomphe.
Yeah. Hello, Rebecca. It's great to be with you in
this beautiful city of Paris.
As you can see behind me,
the Eiffel Tower is lit.
Preparations are continuing to unfold as we get ready for
the opening ceremonies.
And you're absolutely right, with everything that's happening,
these opening ceremonies that are going to go down the
Sin River,
with all of these teams in this open aired venue,
there's a lot of the security issues that have to
be resolved before things get started.
And since we've been here in Paris when we landed
on Monday,
there has been security, there's been French military and French
police everywhere,
just making sure that things are as safe as possible.
Not only do we have to show our credentials,
we've got to show our identifications.
There are gates around every venue just keeping people out
who don't need to be here and just keeping people
and who have to be.
For an example, the other day we left this area
that we were in outside,
inside the gates to go walk down the street.
When we came back, they wouldn't let us end because
the French President was on his way and we had
to stand outside for quite some time.
That is how serious they are taking this.
And that's understandable because of all of the security things
that they have to go through.
They're also getting ready to set up for opening ceremonies.
They're continuing to put up buildings and put up chairs
and get lights and all those things ready.
They've gone through rehearsals. There was an orchestra who was
practicing here yesterday when we were here.
They were even practicing some of the the opening ceremony
stuff a few minutes ago.
And so they're getting ready for what should be a
very beautiful opening ceremonies
for us at the embassy.
It's always a joy to be able to host Americans
here.
And, and that is one of our primary responsibilities is
not just hosting,
but making sure everyone is safe while they're in France.
So having everyone here early and really planning and being
strategic in in how we're doing things has been fabulous.
To put it in a few words,
the USOPC chief of security,
Nicole Deal, said today at a press conference that the
French footprint of security has been impressive.
And so they hope that everything goes well tomorrow during
opening ceremonies.
Rebecca, back to you and Alyssa,
you said a lot of fun things to do out
there as well.
Obviously with the ceremonies going on,
what has been your favorite part so far?
Well, definitely the food. We've been able to just hit
the little cafes that were just all over the place
in Paris.
I joked you could come here and not eat at
the same place twice.
That's how many cafes are just around the area and
sitting down feeling the atmosphere.
And I got to say,
the bread pudding that I got the other day was
absolutely delicious.
That has to be my favorite part.
Also wondering, have you seen any celebrities yet
that have landed in Paris?
Well, we did. We did.
Yeah. We did see how to copy in the the
lobby today at the hotel.
But we know that first lady,
Doctor Jill Biden, she is here.
Rumors are that Elon Musk is here,
too. Tom Cruise and Daya staying at hotels around the
area for the opening ceremonies.
And so we have a feeling we're going to see
some very familiar faces tomorrow.
All right. Thanks, Alyssa. We're looking forward to hearing from
you these next few weeks.
And the countdown is on.
And the 2024 Summer Games are just about a day
away now.
You can watch the games in daytime and prime time
right here on KSNT where you're home for the Olympics.
The Games begin this Friday,
July 26th with the Opening Ceremony and Paris
2024 goes through August 11th.