Paris — With the Paris 2024 Olympic Games set to be held post Covid-19, 6,500 journalists including Kenya have been accredited to cover the multi-sporting event slated to he hosted in the capital of France next year.
Speaking Tuesday in Paris during the opening day of the three-day World Press Briefing ahead of the Games, Jayne Pearce, the Head of Press Operations Paris 2024, told Capital Sport the number of accredited journalists has gone up five times compared to Tokyo 2020.
"We are in a post-covid-19 game, so the interest is almost unprecedented. We are certainly back to pre-covid-19 games. We have journalists wanting to come after the deadline has passed, so we have great interest, so I think these games will be watched by the world through the eyes of the media," Pearce said.
She added, "The accreditation process is done by the International Olympic Committee of Kenya through the National Olympic Committees, they have a quota system based on the attendance of previous games, the number of requests and at the end we will have 6,500 written press, photographers and non-rights holders covering the event."
Over 300 journalists physically attended the World Press Briefing while 180 followed the proceedings online representing 50 countries as they prepare to bring the stories of Paris 2024 to the World.
Day 1 saw the media taken through a plenary session that had 16 topics among them accreditation, venues, transport, media facilities, accommodation, technology and security as well as the dos and don'ts especially for the non-rights holders.
"It is the final World Press Briefing before the Games, we have had a full plenary today where journalists had the opportunity to ask questions, tomorrow we will go to the venue tours, it will be interesting," Pearce, who has worked on several Olympic and Paralympic Games, including Atlanta 1996 and London 2012, where she was the press chief, said.
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And why is it important for journalists intending to cover the Olympic Games to attend the World Press Briefing?
"It is important for journalists to attend the World Press Briefing because, it will help them prepare for the games and ask questions because honestly it's a really challenging prospect and we want to make it as easy as we can for media to cover, but it's not an easy prospect to cover the games," she concluded.
The opening ceremony for the Paris Olympic Games is scheduled for July 24, 2024 where for the first time in the history of the Summer Games, the ceremony will not be taking place in a stadium.
Paris 2024 is breaking new ground in sports competition by bringing sports out into the city and the same will be true for the opening ceremony, which will be held in the heart of the city, along its main artery, the Seine.
Kenya will be seeking to send a strong delegation, aiming to surpass her Tokyo 2020 performance of 10 medals; 4 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze.
