PARIS – In 500 days on Tuesday, the 2024 Summer Olympics will burst into life in Paris as the teams float down the River Seine on barges in a unique opening ceremony.
The Paris Olympics and Paralympics have a lot riding on them — they involve the return of full crowds of spectators to the world’s greatest sporting spectacle after the Covid-blighted Summer Games in Tokyo in 2021 and the Winter Olympics in Beijing last year.
On top of that, the spending on the Games is being scrutinised as never before — venues are focused on Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest area in France.
And the buildup is being…