PHOENIX — Bonjour from Paris!
12News Anchor Tram Mai has made it to the City of Light and is covering everything 2024 Olympics, from the Opening Ceremony to the last medal.
12News spoke with Tram live Thursday evening (which was Friday morning for her) to check in on all things Olympics.
"I actually feel great," Tram said. "I think I am running off of adrenaline even though I have probably had slightly over a full night's sleep over the past two days."
Tram had the Eiffel Tower in the background, which was lighting up the night sky.
"What you are witnessing now, we have been seeing glimpses of it all throughout the night, this is why I feel great because you are seeing the rehearsals for the Opening Ceremony," Tram said. "We have seen the Eiffel Tower being all lit up in different colors, even lights snaking up through the top, lots of laser lights."
For the Opening Ceremony, 10,500 athletes will float down the Seine River in 90 boats, ending at the base of the Eiffel Tower. Other details are being kept quiet.
"They are being very hush-hush about perhaps who is performing and everything that's going to happen, so we just know that it's going to be a really great show that you all have to watch," Tram said.
Due to the outdoor ceremony, security is tight.
"This is history being made in the Olympics in that for the first time ever, during Olympic history, it has never been outside of a stadium," Tram said. "So the fact that this is an entirely public venue, you can only imagine the security being at an utmost, high, high alert priority."
In the two days that she has been there, for example, Tram said security is beginning to ask for extra identification on top of media credentials.
"Parts of the Metro, that was closed down as well. We experienced, we were trying to get to places, to our TV tower, and we had to get off early because they closed part of the Metro and had to walk the mile here," Tram said.
45,000 armed police officers are keeping the games safe. 22,000 private security contractors were also hired for safety purposes. Security is only expected to get tighter leading up to the Opening Ceremony.
"It is the highest and biggest security operation in France's history," Tram said. "All eyes are on Paris and they have to make sure it goes off, everything goes off smoothly without a hitch," Tram said.
Sweets and eats in Paris
"I had the best crepes last night, I had two kinds, of course I did, right?" Tram told Caribe Devine and Mark Curtis. "Chocolate with ice cream on top and a marvelous salted caramel."
Tram also said she had bolognese back-to-back for dinner on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
She even offered to share a day-old croissant with Caribe and Mark.
12News Olympic coverage
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