Will the Olympics deliver on plans to transform Paris? – The Irish Times

The Paris Olympics have been in the spotlight this weekend following Friday’s spectacular opening ceremony. Shane Lowry and Sarah Lavin carried the flag on the River Seine for Ireland’s 133 athletes and gymnast Rhys McCleneghan was among those in action yesterday. The men’s Rugby Sevens team will be wondering what could have been after securing a sixth-place finish, while rowers Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch both scored a point in the double sculls.

Many of their teammates, including Olympic champions Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy, start their Games today. Denis Walsh will be there watching and spoke to several of them about how the sport has grown and the challenge of taking on the world’s best. Check out our round-up for the full list of Irish athletes involved today and we have the full schedule for all the Games here.

Ian O’Riordan has been to seven Olympics for The Irish Times and told the In the News podcast he believes this team can bring home a record number of medals. In his column this week, he discusses the dilemma faced by Rhasidat Adeleke over whether to run the mixed 4x400m relay in Paris or focus on her individual events. Johnny Watterson previews the next two weeks: “One thing athletes understand that doesn’t change is how the Games can find you out, exploit your weakness. Hard lessons are learned. Now, rugby players especially know how that feels.”

While thousands of athletes and fans descended on Paris for the Games, many locals headed in the opposite direction. As Áine Healy writes in Weekend, “For those who stayed, their collective apathy left Paris’ soul empty.” Journalist Sharon Gaffney writes of the massive security presence there, with many of the city’s famous landmarks fenced off. One visitor told her, “I feel like I’m in a war zone.” Despite everything, Gaffney writes, “the sense of collective dread about the logistical impact of the Games is beginning to dissipate.”

The Olympics are the starting gun for a massive infrastructure project that attempts to unite the city and its sprawling suburbs. The political stakes of holding the Games have been immense, Healy writes, and the country’s most recent elections have pushed France in new directions. “The apprehension feels palpable as the city holds its breath. Yet there is a tentative sense of hope.”

Away from the Games, today is All-Ireland final day and we are guaranteed a relatively rare winner in Armagh or Galway, neither of whom have lifted the title in the last two decades. Columnist Dean Rock reckons Armagh can win if they can overcome some of the distractions that can plague a week like this. Michael Murphy also wrote about the madness of the final countdown earlier this week, while we have a preview of Seán Moran’s match.

Meanwhile, the fallout from Joe Biden’s decision not to seek re-election as US president continues. In his column, Fintan O’Toole writes that “after half a century of public service, Biden has performed the last great service of bowing to the inevitable and giving Democrats a fighting chance to save the American republic. They must seize that chance with determination and ferocity. They have dithered and denied for too long, losing much of their own credibility by trying to insist that what everyone could see was not real. But it is not too late to regain it.”

Now attention is turning to whether Kamala Harris can defeat Donald Trump in November’s election. Washington correspondent Keith Duggan assesses her chances and writes about how a “fresh wave of euphoria has swept the Democratic Party”. Ronan McGreevy’s story about Harris’s Irish roots has attracted much interest this week. Genealogical research reveals that Harris’s paternal great-great-grandfather, Hamilton Brown, was born in Co Antrim in 1776. Brown emigrated to Jamaica, then a British colony, and became an enthusiastic slave owner on the sugar plantations that were the mainstay of the island’s economy. Seanín Graham spoke to locals in Ballymoney about the connection. “He was a bandit, to say the least,” says retired pollster Linde Lunney.

Back home, one of the big stories this week was the sentencing of rapist Raymond Shorten for assaulting two young women in the back of his taxi. He was jailed for 17 years. Miriam Lord was in court on Thursday and wrote: “The 50-year-old father of seven did not look like a monster. They never do. But he is one.” Justice Minister Helen McEntee promised to implement proposals to reform the taxi licensing system “as soon as possible” after the sentencing.

Conor Gallagher had one of the most fascinating stories of the week, writing that a former senior Ku Klux Klan member and convicted terrorist has been meeting remotely with Irish far-right activists to provide advice and encouragement regarding anti-immigration protests. He explains more about the links between US radicals and the Irish far-right in this Q&A.

In this weekend’s Irish Times magazine, Róisín Ingle talks to Aidan Gillen about his life as an actor and what matters to him now, while in Ticket, Una Mullally speaks to Belfast rappers Kneecap about how the whirlwind of controversy that characterised their rise has given way to accolades and accolades.

In this week’s On the Money newsletter, Joanne Hunt examines whether renovating your home is worth it. Sign up here to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox every Friday.

As always, there’s plenty more on irishtimes.com, including roundups of all the latest films in our film reviews and tips for the best restaurants in our food section. There are many more articles available exclusively to Irish Times subscribers here.

We value your opinions. Please feel free to send any comments, feedback or suggestions for topics you would like to see covered to [email protected].