The French president, Emmanuel Macron, revealed this Monday the alternative plans for the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games: limit it in space or hold it in the Stade de France, although he was convinced that it could be held in the waters of the Seine. despite the terrorist threat.

Although Macron had already assured in the past that there were other options for the inauguration ceremony, this is the first time he has referred to the scenarios being considered. “The ceremony we are planning is a world first. We can do it and we are going to do it (…) But we have plans B and plans C and we prepare them in parallel,” he said in an interview with BFMTV television.

Macron referred to two, holding the ceremony in the Trocadero gardens, which in the initial plan will be the final point of the delegations’ parade along the Seine, or taking it to the Stade de France in Saint Denis, which will host athletics.

The organization had planned a spectacular opening ceremony on July 26 for some 600,000 people, most of whom would watch the parade of participating countries for free from the banks of the river. But logistical and security concerns (and complaints from bouquinistes selling antique books on the banks of the Seine, who want to stay in their jobs) have led the government to progressively scale back its ambitions.

At the beginning of this year, the total number of spectators dropped to around 300,000. In March, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, revealed that 104,000 people will watch the ceremony from the lower area of ??the riverbank, which will be equipped with stands and who will have to pay an entrance fee to access it. To them will be added another 222,000 who will do so from the upper zone, who will have to register on a platform in advance but who will not have to pay an entrance fee.

About 180 boats will be present on the river during the ceremony, half of them to transport the 206 delegations of athletes who will participate in the Games, while the rest will be of a logistical, security nature or for the planned shows.