France’s forgotten athletes: As the world tunes in to the Olympics, many of Paris’ poorer suburbs see little benefit

[Dawn]

CNN —
When the world’s best track and field athletes arrive at the Stade de France for the Paris Olympics later this month, they will compete in state-of-the-art facilities: a newly renovated purple track, better lighting and bigger screens in the stands.

Fans who want to watch an event like the 100m final on August 4 will have to shell out between $300 to more than $1,000 for a ticket.

But if you walk a short distance away from the sparkling Stade de France, which is about six miles from downtown Paris, you’ll find a very different world.



Seine-Saint-Denis, the northeastern department – roughly equivalent to a county in the US – where the stadium is located, is the poorest in mainland France, and for many of its 1.7 million residents, accessing facilities even close to the caliber of the Stade de France is a pipe dream.

Olympic organizers like to pride themselves on the legacy of the Games and the “long-term benefits” they say they create for the host city and “its people.”

 

[diwataaa]

It's quite a stark contrast between the state-of-the-art facilities at the Stade de France and the reality of life in Seine-Saint-Denis. It raises important questions about the true legacy and benefits of hosting the Olympics for the local communities.

 

[Xeth_]

The Paris Olympics will showcase top athletes on a shiny new track, but just beyond the stadium lies Seine-Saint-Denis, where residents can only dream of such facilities—talk about the starkest contrast between Olympic glam and real-life grit. vs.