Luxembourg's Grand Duke Reflects on Olympic Games in Paris 2024

On Monday 12 August 2024, the Maison du Grand-Duc released an interview conducted with Luxembourg’s Grand Duke.

The discussion is an analysis of the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, including as a key point the question of how to better integrate young people from immigrant backgrounds through sport.

Maison du Grand-Duc: Monseigneur, during the “pre-Games” interviews, you announced that Paris 2024 would be exceptional. You were not wrong…

Luxembourg’s Grand Duke: They were truly exceptional in all areas: the athletes outdid themselves, the organisation of Paris was very good, the public was sensational; all the stadiums were full. The atmosphere was great, also thanks to the 45,000 volunteers who were incredibly available, helpful to everyone and always smiling. What also really struck me was the unity of the French, their unanimity. They really carried the Games.

Maison du Grand-Duc: A unanimity that, on the evening of the opening ceremony, was not the most obvious…

Luxembourg’s Grand Duke: Organising this ceremony on the Seine was an ambitious challenge, made difficult by the weather conditions. It was a spectacle that must be seen in its entirety, a succession of tableaux presenting France in its diversity. The opening ceremony achieved its goal - it opened the ball for the Olympic Games, which broke all audience records with more than 12 billion viewers cumulatively over the fifteen days. And on social networks, all visibility ceilings were also exceeded.

Maison du Grand-Duc: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had asked Paris to organise “younger, more urban and more sustainable” Games. There too, it was a great success.

Luxembourg’s Grand Duke: Paris succeeded in this incredible challenge of celebrating sport in the heart of the capital. For my travels, these were the easiest Games: everything, except Versailles and the velodrome, was within a quarter of an hour’s walk. Then there was the work that was done on the choice of sites. The Grand Palais, Versailles, the Trocadero… It was a permanent postcard of Paris that the world will remember. But what struck me the most was how the organisers reformatted the rooms during the Games. The Grand Palais was transformed from a fencing hall into a taekwondo hall. The court Philippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros became the temple of boxing. After the Mauroy stadium in Lille, the Paris-Bercy gymnasium became the basketball hall for the finals in one night, we see this in time-lapses on social networks. With temporary and flexible stadiums, the swimming pool at the Defence Arena installed on a rugby field… In short, Paris 2024 innovated and in this sense, the Games took on a new dimension.

Maison du Grand-Duc: “Younger” games, are they also…noisier games?

Luxembourg’s Grand Duke: Yes [laughter]. Rather more musical. Each competition had its hosts who encouraged the public, during the breaks, to really get involved, to participate. All carried by music, mainly French, with lots of decibels in everyone's ears. It was huge. This may have shocked purists but I questioned our referees (we had five on site) and our athletes confronted, some for the first time, with this atmosphere. They all told me that it did not bother them: they were so focused on their performance that they ignored the rest. Clearly, it stimulates more than it bothers.

Maison du Grand-Duc: You, alongside the Grand Duchess and the members of your family, accompanied the Luxembourg athletes to all the stadiums, you even chose to present the medals where members of "Team Lëtzebuerg" had a chance of a podium...

Luxembourg’s Grand Duke: The members of the IOC can, if they wish, present medals. I had asked to be able to do it in the triathlon and the 1500m where we had a promising participation. And I also did it in gymnastics, where we had no one. Unfortunately, in the triathlon, Jeanne Lehair was really unlucky. What happened to her is something that never happens. Her disappointment was immense. No luck either for Christine Majerus and Alex Kirsch who fell in tricky conditions, or for Pit Klein who missed his last arrow while he already had one foot in the next round. We could have done better but we presented a team with thirteen athletes, the vast majority of whom still have a lot of room for improvement, like Raphael Daleiden or Ruben Querinjean. That is the meaning of the designation of Patrizia Van der Weken as flag bearer during the closing session. If she had achieved the time with which she qualified, she would have been in the grand final. It’s true, but having an athlete in the 100m Final B, the main event, is already an achievement. Patrizia runs magnificently, she’s going to bring us even more great satisfaction, you’ll see.

Maison du Grand-Duc: We saw you alongside the Belgians during the last two days of the Games. Belgians who won ten medals…

Luxembourg’s Grand Duke: The Belgians came with a very large delegation, 132 athletes, with three teams in team sports. That’s ten times more than us. And with extraordinary champions in heptathlon or cycling. The last two days were notably the finals of the relays in which the Belgians are traditionally strong. And the relays are quite exciting.

Maison du Grand-Duc: The last two Belgian medals, in taekwondo and marathon, are the work of two athletes from immigrant backgrounds. Should Luxembourg follow its neighbour's example?

Luxembourg’s Grand Duke: First of all, we did not sit idly by since Xia Lian Ni has been Luxembourgish since 1991. And she brought us, and the world, extraordinary emotions through the excitement for her performance (a set point against the world number 1) and her career. There are many countries (including our three neighbouring countries) with medallists from immigrant backgrounds. Luxembourg is a champion country of integration. It is up to us to see how to better integrate young people through sport, in the most varied disciplines that exist today. Sport is a unique means of education and integration. Let's dare to do it more.

Maison du Grand-Duc: Sport also came out on top with a first medal for an athlete from the "Refugee Team" (37 athletes) that is so close to your heart...

Luxembourg’s Grand Duke: She's even a female athlete. The IOC clearly put her in the spotlight during the closing ceremony. Her name is Cindy Ngamba, she is the first refugee to win a bronze medal in boxing. She fled Cameroon at the age of eleven for the United Kingdom, which gave her refugee status in 2021. In the interview, she simply said "I hope that every refugee in the world can see my story and realise that, despite all the obstacles and tragedies, you can achieve anything." This is a great recognition for the "IOC Solidarity Commission".

Maison du Grand-Duc: See you in Los Angeles?

Luxembourg’s Grand Duke: Yes, certainly, but before that, at the end of this month, in... Paris with the Paralympics. The Grand Duchess and I will be there alongside the Luxembourg athletes who are doing as great a job as the athletes we have just left.

Maison du Grand-Duc: Thank you, Monsignor.