PARIS: The vaulting ambitions of the Paris Olympics have made them risky and difficult to police, but French security forces have kept thousands of athletes and millions of fans safe – a “gold medal” according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
The two-week sporting extravaganza, which ended on Sunday, led to a security operation unlike any other in modern French history, with around 75,000 police, soldiers and private security guards mobilized during the July 26 premiere.
There have been incidents over the past fortnight – an attack on French railways, an attacker in the men's 100m final – but nothing that has marred the event overall, much to the organisers' relief.
“These Olympics include both great French medals and a big gold medal for the Ministry of the Interior and the Security Forces,” Darmanin said last week when he visited officers on duty in Marseille, southern France.
The sense of satisfaction and self-effacing tone of his remarks reflected the immense pressure and doubts raised during the build-up to the Games as to whether France's already strained resources were up to the task.
Their first test was securing the Olympic torch relay, a journey through 450 French towns and cities as well as overseas territories.
Then came a surprise parliamentary election in July, followed by an unprecedented opening ceremony along a six-kilometre (four-mile) stretch of the Seine river that has given planners sleepless nights since its unveiling in 2021.
In the end, the 300,000 spectators watching from the banks of the river were left with nothing but torrential rain, with uniformed officers flooding the streets of the capital.
“For those of us who were here on the ground, we saw a security trail here. It's impressive,” Nicole Deal, Team USA's head of security, said on the day of the ceremony. “I've never seen (any) like that in any other games.”
The two weeks of the competition were full of stadiums, with 743,000 people visiting the venue in a single day on 30 July.
Other events from a triathlon to a marathon took place on the streets of the capital.
Around a million people lined the course of the men's and women's road cycling races on August 3-4.
“The French security services undoubtedly deserve a gold medal,” French criminologist and university professor Alain Bauer, a vocal critic of the open-air format, told AFP.
He said this was due to “extraordinary investment” and “fundamental changes” which saw organizers significantly reduce the size of the opening ceremony crowd under pressure from the Home Office.
After Russia was banned from the games, French officials said Russia was plotting to destabilize them, with France's cyber security agency on high alert for attacks that could disrupt the organizing committee, ticket sales or transport.
The arrest of a 40-year-old suspected member of the Russian secret services on the eve of the Games has unsettled nerves.
The war in Gaza, threats from the Daesh group and France's history of domestic Islamist terror plots and far-right extremism have also raised concerns about the possibility of an attack that would ruin the party.
However, not everyone found something to celebrate in the security operation.
Charities have been vocal in the run-up to the games about repressive policing of the homeless, sex workers and migrants, while anti-Olympic protest groups say they have been prevented from exercising their democratic rights.
Around 45 activists from the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion were detained by police a day after the opening ceremony as they prepared to occupy a bridge over the Seine River in central Paris.
The group “Saccage 2024”, which organizes so-called “Toxic Tours” highlighting the downsides of the games, said it was prevented from guiding a group of about 20 people to sites in northern Paris last week.
The search was prevented by about 30 law enforcement units and four police cars, and three members of the collective were taken to the local police station for questioning.
“At the end of police custody, no charges were brought against any of the people arrested, further evidence that this was in fact an attempt at intimidation,” the group wrote on Instagram.