Paris 2024 Olympics: Bedbug invasion threatens to sour medal hunt for athletes in French capital

© Imago.

OLYMPICS Paris 2024 Olympics: Bedbug invasion threatens to sour medal hunt for athletes in French capital

Joel Omotto 10:00 - 02.10.2023

Athletes preparing for the 2024 Olympics in Paris could end up having to deal with bedbug bites besides worrying about their rivals in the various disciplines

Athletes preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics could end up worrying about other things other than their rivals in the various disciplines as bedbugs have infested the French capital.

With the Olympics less than a year away, French authorities want to make sure the bedbugs do not bite during the games and have started a drive to exterminate the pests.

Social media users have been publishing footage of the insects crawling around in high-speed trains and the Paris metro, alongside a rash of online articles about bedbugs in cinemas and even at Charles de Gaulle airport.

The reports have reached the highest levels of government.

"The state urgently needs to put an action plan in place against this scourge as France is preparing to welcome the Olympic and Paralympic games in 2024," Reuters quoted Paris’ deputy mayor, Emmanuel Gregoire, saying in a letter to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne last week.

Transport Minister Clement Beaune said on Friday he will discuss the issue with transport operators this week.

At the Paris Gare de Lyon train station, travellers said they doubted whether authorities would be able to get on top of the problem.

"I'm worried about it. I'll keep my luggage closed to stop (bedbugs) getting into my home. Once I get home, I'll have to wash all my clothes," Laura Mmadi, a sales worker heading to the south of France told Reuters.

In a report published in July, health agency Anses said that between 2017 and 2022, bedbugs had infested more than one in 10 French households, a worrying statistic ahead of the global fiesta.

Deputy mayor Gregoire called on insurers to include bedbug cover in house insurance policies, as low-income people rarely had the means to call in pest control firms.

The bedbug invasion comes as Paris prepares to host the Olympics, billed the biggest sporting extravaganza, from July 26-August 11, 2024 although Gregoire has claimed the insects pose "no threat to the Olympic Games" and instead provide a chance for people to work together to combat them.

Bedbugs are small, six-legged insects that frequently hide in furniture and bite humans to feed on their blood.