(26 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Paris, France – 26 July 2024
1. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Thomas Bach entering venue and starting news conference
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Thomas Bach, head of the International Olympic Committee:
"We will have the athletes from the territories of all 206 national Olympic Committees united together – with the IOC Refugee Olympic team. And in this way sending a very strong message for peace and unity in this world, as the athletes did already this week, with a call for peace in the Olympic Village."
3. Guterres and Bach during news conference
4. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations:
"The horrendous suffering in Gaza, the seemingly endless war in Ukraine, terrible suffering from Sudan to the DRC, from the Sahel to Myanmar. And in a moment like this, it is important to say that the first recorded in history real peace initiative was the Olympic truce. And so, in a moment in which the Olympic Games are going to start, it is time to remind the world of the importance of the Olympic truce and to make the world understand that we must silence the guns."
5. Guterres and Bach during news conference
6. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations:
"Nothing is more contrary to conflict than the Olympic spirit. The Olympic Games are a symbol of universality and diversity, a symbol of cooperation and loyal competition, instead of division and conflict. And so, this is the moment in which my strong appeal is for countries to come together with the same spirits as athletes will be coming together during the Olympic Games in Paris."
7. Guterres and Bach shaking hands
8. Guterres and Bach leaving
STORYLINE:
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Thomas Bach called for the Olympics to inspire peace and unity in a world divided by conflict at a joint news conference in Paris ahead on Friday.
"The horrendous suffering in Gaza, the seemingly endless war in Ukraine, terrible suffering from Sudan to the DRC, from the Sahel to Myanmar. And in a moment like this, it is important to say that the first recorded in history real peace initiative was the Olympic truce,” Guterres said ahead of the opening ceremony.
The U.N. chief added that “it is time to remind the world of the importance of the Olympic truce and to make the world understand that we must silence the guns."
Bach confirmed that the athletes from the territories of all 206 national Olympic Committees will all come together with the IOC Refugee Olympic team.
Earlier on Friday, France’s high-speed rail network was hit with widespread acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralyzing travel to Paris from across the rest of France and Europe only hours before the grand opening ceremony.
Up to 45,000 police and gendarmes, plus 10,000 soldiers, will safeguard the ceremony and its VIP guests, with Bach and French President Emmanuel Macron presiding.
AP Video by Fernanda Pesce
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