Troubled preparations for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics hit another low Tuesday as French investigators searched organizers’ headquarters as part of an ongoing corruption probe into Olympics-related contracts.
The investigation is related to a web of scandals that also impacted the 2016 Rio and 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Multiple raids were reportedly centered on a pair of “preliminary investigations” into alleged improprieties, conflicts of interest, and favoritism with construction contracts and public funds dating back to 2017 and last year.
The two Paris 2024 investigations had not previously been made public. Paris 2024 organizers said they were “cooperating fully” with investigators.
The raids also coincide with the start of a two-day IOC executive board meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, in which Paris preparations will be discussed.
The probes add to a series of woes surrounding the Paris Games — which are set to begin July 26, 2024 — as well as blunt prior efforts by organizers to set a new tone for the Olympics after the prior corruption issues.
In recent weeks, Paris 2024 organizers have been dogged by fan outcry over high ticket prices, suburban rebuke of planned relocation of homeless people from Paris during the Games, and infighting and resignations among French athletics officials.
Additionally, the planned opening ceremony — which includes an elaborate parade along the River Seine — presents unprecedented logistical and security challenges, pushing the escalating budget by another third since 2017 to around $9.6 billion.
