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CNN 10
Ahead To The Summer Olympics; College Volleyball Match, Where Attendance Reached A Record High For A Women`s Sporting Event; Wild Finish For T-Rex Costume Race. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired September 01, 2023 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello, lovely people. We made it to Friday. The weekend is upon us. Anyone have some big plans this weekend? Message me
@coywire on Insta, Snapchat, and Twitter and TikTok. I`d love to hear about it. We have a pack show today, the best 10 minutes in news, let`s get to
it.
We`re going to switch things up today a bit though. Pop quiz hotshot.
Which of these cities will host the 2024 Summer Olympics?
Paris, France, Milan, Italy, Los Angeles, California, or Brisbane, Australia?
All of these are future Olympic sites, but the next summer games will be in Paris.
They are less than a year away, the Summer Olympic and Paralympic games and just as the world`s best athletes are ramping up their training, Parisians
are having to ramp up their preparations to welcome millions of people from all over the world.
Let`s break the upcoming games down by the numbers. Paris has 10 million tickets available for the Olympics. There are 329 medal events in 32
different sports across 18 days of competition. Paris tourism says there will be more than a quarter of a million rooms available during the games
for accommodations. And they`re predicting that up to 15.9 million people could visit the region next summer. But Paris is over 2000 years old. So
that city has some really old bones. It`s an added challenge, not just regarding infrastructure, but also the transportation system. CNN`s Jim
Bittermann has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With less than a year ago before Paris hosts the next Summer Olympics, officials
have been showing off how much work has been done with President Emmanuel Macron, having promised 1.5 billion euros, to ensure the accessibility of
the competition to athletes, visitors, and tours. But accessible is a word scoff at by some disabled like Franck Maille, go for a tour with Maille, a
Paralympic winner himself on Paris`s most accessible public transport systems. And you see the problems which face the 350,000 disabled visitors
expected to attend next year`s games.
When Maille comes into the city, for instance, he uses a renovated train line equipped with elevators, making it accessible, but he points out not
accessible without help. And while there are elevators, there`s sometimes hard to find or not functioning, as a disabled British visitor found out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of the lists were broken every single one.
BITTERMANN: And if the most modern subway line has problems, the 13 other older lines of the famous Paris Metro are simply impossible for disabled
users.
(On camera): While the Metro system is no doubt, the most efficient way to get around Paris, it was built more than a hundred years ago, and most of
the stations are like this one, not accessible to anyone who can`t go up and downstairs.
The Metro system is gradually making improvements. Officials don`t believe that more than 14% of it will be wheelchair accessible by 2024 in the
Olympic games. Just by comparison, Tokyo system was 90% accessible for the last Olympic games. Even the mayor of Paris admits there are problems.
ANNE HIDALGO, MAYOR OF PARIS (through translator): The Metro, which is very ancient cannot be made totally accessible.
BITTERMANN: But the mayor quickly pivots to the brand-new tramways built a ground level, which shouldn`t be a problem for those in wheelchairs. And
she points out the buses, which are being renovated and equipped with ramps, but the disabled who actually use the buses say, it`s not that
simple.
FRANCK MAILLE, APF FRANCE HANDICAP: Because for example, sometimes the extendable ramp doesn`t work or the drivers don`t know how to use them.
BITTERMANN: While the mobility issue remains a priority, there are others, housing for instance, the tens of thousands of hotel rooms and short-term
apartment rentals in the city`s historic buildings, only a tiny fraction are fully usable by people in wheelchairs. And there is the further
question of access to the bar of the bathrooms in small businesses. There are part of the Paris scene. Despite the challenges Maille is still a big
supporter of next year`s games.
MAILLE: What I say to people is come, come to see Paris. That`s clear, you know, but don`t be surprised that Paris is not more accessible. That it`s
not the best of the best because there`s still so much work to be done.
BITTERMANN: And other disability rights activists were hoping the games could transform, not just infrastructure, but also attitudes toward the
disabled. Yet with less than a year ago before the games they say that looks increasingly doubtful. Jim Bittermann, CNN Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Look out, a record-breaking moment in sports, the biggest crowd ever at a women`s sporting event in the entire world.
On Wednesday, women`s volleyball in Lincoln, Nebraska are whopping 92,003 fans filled Memorial Stadium at the University of Nebraska`s campus, fans
filing in to watch the five-time NCAA champs as they took on and beat Omaha 3-0. And when the attendance record was announced over the loud speakers
crowd went wild. The previous world record for most fans at a women`s sporting event was set April of 2022 when 91 some thousand soccer fans in
Barcelona, Spain for the Barcelona versus Wolfsburg match.
Congrats to all the fans and to Nebraska women`s volleyball, go Cornhuskers.
Today`s story getting a 10 out of 10 is Dino-Mite excellent, a Jurassic classic. Every year Emerald Downs Race track in Auburn, Washington has a 14
and under T-Rex race where the winners wear T-Rex costumes. But the standout this year was not the winner. It was the four-year-old best
friends who came in last. Our Jeanne Moos has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Move over thoroughbred race horses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they`re off in the kids T-Rex race.
MOOS: Here at Emerald Downs in Washington State, the first to go down was the blue dinosaur and the leader lost his shoe. A croc, no lace, but that
didn`t stop the one shoe teenage T-Rex from winning. Competitors had to be 14 and under long passed when the rest of the contestants had crossed the
finish line, the fight for next to last place featured these two stragglers.
WES PETREE, RACE ORGANIZER: Was it hard to run in the suit?
SYDNEY PETREE, WES PETREE`S DAUGHTER: Yeah, it`s hard.
W. PETREE: How hard?
S. PETREE: I`m like, super hard.
W. PETREE: Super hard?
S. PETREE: Yeah.
ALEX SCHOOLEY, RACER: I had fun.
MOOS: Alex Schooley and Sydney Petree are best friends. Sydney is the daughter of the race track`s marketing director. The two, four-year-olds
rock they`re warm up and then held hands as the race got underway.
NATHAN SCHOOLEY, RACER`S DAD: To watch those two little T-Rex start to waddle, um, they were trying to run, but it was more of a waddle.
MOOS: Sydney kept chewing on a toy T-Rex.
W. PETREE: We`re got to do the interview first. We got to do the interview.
MOOS: Their 100-yard dash was immortalized.
N. SCHOOLEY: Or we`re about to frame it. Careful, Alex.
MOOS: The two stragglers finally crossed the finish line. Alex, just a few feet ahead of Sydney.
W. PETREE: Definitely an amazing best friend moment.
MOOS: And don`t you dare bring up losing that word is extinct in Sydney, the T-Rex`s lexicon.
W. PETREE: First thing she said to me, when she crossed finish lines was dad. We won. We won.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Tiny arms, big dreams, and an awesome attitude.
Our special shout out today is going to Western Hills University High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, rise up. Let`s take great energy, good vibes,
and lots of love into this weekend.
No episode Monday because of the Labor Day Holiday. So I`ll see you on Tuesday. Remember you are more powerful than you know. I`m Coy Wire. It`s
been a blessing to spend this week with you.
END
