This is part of Slate’s 2024 Olympics coverage. Read more here . If you’re enjoying our coverage from Paris, join Slate Plus to support our work. Why did Paris, a city whose international reputation could scarcely get any bigger, decide to host the Olympics in the first place? Was it because, as Le Monde wrote , “Paris deserves to organize the Olympics”? Will the Paris Olympics, with their few permanent developments, all in the service of the public interest, redeem the competition’s model? Or