The 4 x 100m relay

Since then, preparations have been feverish. Everything has to be ready to welcome the events from July 26. Paris 2024 is a team race against the clock that began as early as September 2017, with the official award at the 131^e session of the International Olympic Committee in Lima.

 In the starting-blocks, four competitors agreed to take a few minutes to share their impressions, just a few weeks before the opening ceremony...

• Morgane Blouët (BSB'18), Hosting Project Manager
• Pauline Fournat (BSB'18), Airport Reception Project Manager
• Camille Jacqmarcq (BSB'93): Senior Application Project Manager
• Alexandra Jacquot (BSB'21): Accreditations Project Manager

Morgane is the first to take the baton. "Our mission is clear: all accredited persons are entitled to accommodation in line with their accreditation. Paris 2024 means guaranteeing 700,000 overnight stays. 

Accreditation? Alexandra takes her turn! "I'm in charge of the accreditation of private agents in charge of personal and site security. It's a painstaking task: we have to list all the people on each site and identify exactly what they'll be doing". 

But how do the housed and protected people get there? Many via the Paris airports! Pauline takes the baton. "We take charge of accredited travelers at Orly and Roissy Charles de Gaulle from 14 days before the Olympic Games until 3 days after the end of the Paralympic events. It's a two-month marathon, night and day, 7 days a week!"

The race is heating up! The information system has to keep up! What does Camille think? That's her at the end of the straight. "The IT department was created in 2019. Arriving in June 2020, I've mainly been involved in setting up collaborative tools and automating IT processes."   

Pauline takes a sharp turn. "Upstream, my work consisted in helping to design the welcome and training courses for the receptionists, employees and volunteers. With a systematic inventory of use cases to ensure a smooth welcome for each person. Thanks to this, I really came to realize that the Olympic and Paralympic Games are a real opportunity to continue developing conditions of accessibility for all populations within Paris airports".

The baton passes to Morgane. "We have 400 establishments under contract. To accommodate officials, the media, federations, partners, law enforcement agencies, private security, which Alexandra looks after, and drivers. My mission consisted in giving access to the recipients and resolving countless misunderstandings and hitches.  

Camille emerges behind her. "We've created a dozen extranets to communicate live with our many contacts around the world. Indispensable for organizing such an event! But now I've switched to on-site operations. I'm the assistant to the technology manager at the Paris La Défense Arena swimming, waterpolo and para-swimming venue.

Alexandra lengthens her stride. "For all of us, the devil is in the detail. On D-Day, everything has to be rigorously planned and processed in advance. For example, as far as I'm concerned, I have to electronically confine each surveillance personnel, by name, to the perimeter and at the times corresponding to their mission. But I also have to anticipate any unforeseen security issues".   

Fortunately, these athletes benefit from excellent preparation. For Camille, the trigger was the Los Angeles Olympics and Carl Lewis's four medals. "I've always remembered that absolute joy. "I had played tennis and handball competitively for 15 years," says Pauline. She adds: "The decision to turn my passion into a profession was undoubtedly made at Roland-Garros, where I was a ball boy. Morgane started out with 12 years of gymnastics before switching to athletics. "The Paris 2024 machine is like a TGV running at full speed. You have to go the distance and be constantly hypervigilant". Alexandra's background is in soccer. "We're in communication with an incredible number of people to sort everything out. It's a team sport that helps me to balance each exchange.   

Finish line in sight. It's time to let the runners make their last effort...