No opening parade in Paris

MANILA, Philippines — POC president Mayor Bambol Tolentino has disclosed that the coming Olympic opening ceremony will be a historic first since Paris hosted the Games 100 years ago. It won’t be a parade at a stadium. Instead, it will be a flotilla of boats, each carrying 100 delegates, streaming down the River Seine with 300,000 spectators lining the banks. 

Tolentino said initially, the Philippines was allocated 25 seats in a boat with three other countries but the latest word is it has been reduced to 20. He added that the first plan was to bring out one million spectators. For security reasons and crowd control, it went down to 600,000 and now, 300,000. While there is apprehension that terrorists may disrupt the Olympic proceedings, Tolentino said the Paris organizers confirmed no turning back in the program to cruise the River Seine.

Regarding plane fares to Paris, Tolentino said costs are rising by the day and he’s personally scouring the internet for the best prices. “When we participated in our first Olympics in Paris in 1924, it took 33 days for our athlete David Nepomuceno and National Physical Director Dr. Regino Ylanan to travel from Manila to Marseilles by boat,” he said. The delegation of two went from Marseilles to Paris by train, arriving a week before the Olympics. Nepomuceno, a Philippine Scout, competed in the 100-meter and 200-meter heats but never made it beyond the trials. 

For this year’s Olympics, Tolentino said the Philippine athletes will leave for France on June 22 and set up training camp in Metz, an hour and 15 minutes from Paris by train. Tolentino declined to speculate who could be potential gold medalists but said he’s hoping for podium finishes from athletics, gymnastics and boxing.