The Paris Olympics, the main sporting event of 2024, is approaching, and protests by activists trying to raise public awareness of climate issues continue, French media reported.
About 95 per cent of sports venues in the Paris region exceed World Health Organisation air quality recommendations, according to the French watchdog.
Almost all sports venues in the Paris region are prone to excessive air pollution, claims Respire (Breathe), an organisation that has studied air quality at venues around the French capital.
The results of the study, published this week, showed that “almost all” of the most polluted sites are near the Paris ring road. The “vast majority” of the 112 sports centres studied in Paris and its suburbs had air pollution levels above the maximum level recommended by the WHO, said the study, which used data from French air monitoring service Airparif.
“Pollution spikes can prevent athletes from achieving elite performance, trigger asthma attacks and even dizziness,” the report said, especially during the summer months when pollution levels are at their highest.
An open-air sports ground at Porte d’Asnières between Paris and Levallois-Perret was the most polluted in 2023. The ring road runs just 10 metres from the athletics track and football pitches. Adele, who runs here twice a week, said:
“There’s a lot of cars and dust, so it’s not good at all. I cough, my throat itches and then it can turn into an asthma attack.”
Protests continue
Meanwhile, police detained at least five people during Saturday’s march by environmental activists against the construction of massive irrigation reservoirs in the port of La Rochelle in western France, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said.
The governor of Charente-Maritimes province had earlier warned citizens to stay away from the port and its surroundings.
Around 4,000 environmental activists, with the participation of activists camped on the outskirts of Deux-Sèvres, began marching towards the port to protest against the construction. Protesters damaged bus stops and some workplaces in the city centre, but police intervened against the activists who were burning bins and throwing Molotov cocktails.
Activists argue that the reservoirs, which will be filled from aquifers in winter for summer irrigation, benefit large farmers to the detriment of small farms and the environment.
