In 500 days on Tuesday, the 2024 Summer Olympics will burst into life in Paris as the teams float down the River Seine on barges in a unique opening ceremony.

The Paris Olympics and Paralympics have a lot riding on them — they involve the return of full crowds of spectators to the world’s greatest sporting spectacle after the Covid-blighted Summer Games in Tokyo in 2021 and the Winter Olympics in Beijing last year.

On top of that, the spending on the Games is being scrutinised as never before — venues are focused on Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest area in France.

And the buildup is being buffeted by the war in Ukraine and its ramifications for competitors from that country, Russia and its ally Belarus.

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