The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris mark the centennial of the 1924 Paris Olympics and the third time that Paris has hosted the Summer Games. With over 200 countries competing, and a global television audience well into the billions, the Games are sure to garner the attention of the international community concerning the competition itself, but also the challenges surrounding it.

In response to possible security threats, the French Government has introduced legislation aimed at enhancing the security and anti-doping powers available to French Authorities, “Loi no 2023-380 du 19 mai 2023.” The new legislation authorizes French law enforcement to experiment with AI-facilitated intelligent video surveillance until the Spring of 2025. The AI-assisted video surveillance technology will function to detect predefined events such as suspicious behavior and abandoned bags in real time. The use of this new technology has piqued concerns from international legal experts and French citizens alike, as it seems to toe the line between ensuring safety and infringing on personal liberties. One safeguard mitigating these concerns is that there are strict regulations coupled with the allowance for increased surveillance, ensuring that the data collected will not be used for biometric identification or personal data linkage.

Further concerning the international community and athletes competing in the Games, is the handling of a 2021 doping scandal in which 23 Chinese Swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine, a performance enhancer, months before the Tokyo Olympics. Despite that particular drug warranting a four-year suspension from competition, according to the World Anti-Doping Association, which is responsible for monitoring and enforcing these penalties, the athletes were not suspended, and half of them went on to compete and win medals in the Tokyo Games. Further exacerbating public opinion on this scandal, is a recent report which unveiled that several of the athletes caught in the 2021 scandal, had also been caught doping in 2016 and in 2017 through routine drug tests, and again had faced no sanctions. Though the World Anti-Doping Association denies any wrongdoing on their part, athletes and the public alike are concerned that these successive incidents may be indicative of systemic doping of athletes by the Chinese government.

In the US, the FBI has opened a criminal investigation into the handling of the Chinese doping allegations by the World Anti-Doping Association, the Biden Administration along with a coalition of other lawmakers is considering potential action to hold the World Anti-Doping Association accountable for their wrongdoing. Unfortunately, any action is sure to come far too late to be of any benefit to the athletes competing in Paris, who will have to compete unaware of whether at all, or to what extent their competitors may be reaping the benefits of performance-enhancing drugs.

Sources:

–      Potential Problems Expected at 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympic

–      International Bar Association reports legal issues arising ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics | Canadian Lawyer

–      Legal issues gain prominence in run-up to Paris Olympic Games | International Bar Association

–      The Paris Olympics begin, overshadowed by the Chinese doping scandal