Key events
Vandals target France’s high-speed rail network
Vandals targeted France’s high-speed TGV network with a series of coordinated actions that brought major disruption to some of the country’s busiest rail lines before the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.
The state-owned railway operator said arsonists had targeted installations along the lines connecting Paris with the country’s west, north and east and that traffic would be severely disrupted during the weekend.
“Last night, the SNCF was victim of several acts of vandalism on the Atlantic, Northern and Eastern high-speed lines. Fires were deliberately set to damage our installations,” the SNCF said in a statement.
Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra condemned the vandalism. “It’s completely appalling,” she told BFMTV. “To target the games is to target France.”. Reuters
“France’s live-action experiment in the great man theory of history is going to roll on into the semi-finals on Saturday, where they will play South Africa.”
Andy Bull was at the Stade de France last night to witness Antoine Dupont steering the hosts through to the semi-finals in rugby sevens:
Preamble
Hello and welcome to Friday’s 2024 Olympics live blog.
It’s time for lift-off in Paris, as Angelique Chrisafis reports from the French capital:
“It is billed as the biggest open-air show on Earth – a spectacle so ambitious it will shut down a city centre and its airspace, mobilise 45,000 police and several army units and has taken two years to rehearse in secret.
When the Paris Olympics opening ceremony begins on Friday night, it will be the first time the theatrical curtain-raiser for the world’s biggest sporting event has taken place outside a stadium.”
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