Security and transportation issues overshadow grandiose opening ceremony heading into Paris Games

By JEROME PUGMIRE
AP Sports Writer

PARIS (AP) — The talk before the opening ceremony of the Paris Games ideally should be about its grandiose backdrop: a summer sun setting on the Seine River as athletes drift by in boats and wave to cheering crowds. But behind the romantic veneer that Paris has long curated, mounting security concerns already have had an impact on the unprecedented open-air even. Around 30,000 police officers are expected to be deployed each day, with 45,000 working the opening ceremony. Security and transportation are the biggest concerns heading into the Paris Games, which run from July 26-Aug. 11. Around 9 million tickets have been sold.