Athlete robbed, Celine Dion’s fee, rationed food… This false information targeting the organization of the Olympic Games

Among the fake news that is very persistent on social networks: the idea that Celine Dion will receive two million euros to perform at the opening ceremony on Friday July 26.

For several months, the factory producing false information about the preparations for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has been running at full speed. And as the kickoff of the festivities and events approaches on Friday, July 26, the pace of fake news does not seem to slow down. “Le vrai ou faux” has identified three statements that we should be wary of.

Australian athlete robbed in Brussels, not Paris

A video, viewed several hundred thousand times on the X network, shows Australian Logan Martin, Olympic freestyle BMX champion, in front of a large black vehicle with broken windows. “Our van was robbed last night”says the athlete. UA little further on in a park, his team’s belongings are scattered on the ground. “It’s unfortunate that people feel the need to do this,” concludes Logan Martin. Several accounts are sharing these images, claiming that the Australian cycling team was robbed, in an attempt to question the security arrangements for the Paris Olympics.

Except that this video was not filmed in our capital but in Brussels at the beginning of the week. This is what Logan Martin explains, in writing, on his Instagram account. If we linger on the video, we see, to the right of the van, police officers with the Brussels police badge visible on their vests.

❌ FALSE

The events presented in this video took place in Brussels earlier this week and have nothing to do with the Paris 2024 Athletes’ Village 🚌

🇫🇷 Security of delegations to the Games @Paris2024 is provided by the State, in conjunction with the Olympic Committees… https://t.co/3O6CjhOefU

— State JOP 2024 (@JOPFactuel) July 25, 2024

“The facts presented have nothing to do with the Paris 2024 athletes’ village,” confirms the French government in a message posted on the official X account Etat JOP 2024, a dedicated channel “to the fact-checking of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games”.

No, Celine Dion is not going to get two million euros

There are also the many messages claiming that Celine Dion will receive two million euros to sing at the opening ceremony on Friday. The Canadian singer, whose participation has still not been confirmed at the moment, is thus the target of much criticism on social networks.

But this controversy is not based on any factual basis. The artists chosen for the opening ceremony, whatever their nationality and fame, do not “do not receive any fees for their services.” The organizers of the Olympic Games explained this last month. On the other hand, the “technical production and performance organization costs” are, themselves, supported by the organizing committee.

The choice of dishes is reduced… But no hungry athletes

Another topic of excitement on the networks: the canteen in the Olympic village where the athletes are not fed enough. “What a disaster these Olympics are! There is a shortage of food in the Olympic village”, “The athletes are rationed”, can be read on X. There is some truth in it but it is very exaggerated.

It all started with a newspaper article The Team who claims that the quantities served were deemed insufficient by several athletes during two meals in one week. Judoka Valentin Houinato, flag bearer of Benin and journalist at franceinfo, confirms the fact that “some dishes” In “some stands” were no longer available. “But we were able to eat every time, reassures the athlete. We took something else.”

Sodexo, one of the companies that supplies the village and that franceinfo contacted, specifies that certain products such as eggs and grilled meats are very popular with athletes. It was therefore necessary “to strenghten” the volumes delivered. To summarize: if the first menus were a little limited in terms of choice, the athletes did not train on an empty stomach.