Podcast

What Does it Take to Bring the Olympic Games to Life?

Episode

What Does it Take to Bring the Olympic Games to Life?

This year in Paris, over 14,000 athletes from more than 200 countries will compete in 878 Olympic and Paralympic medal events — from beach volleyball under the Eiffel Tower to the Marathon starting at Hotel de Ville. Preparation starts years in advance and requires solid, well-functioning infrastructure and multi-layered coordination across industries and technologies. From telecom and data infrastructure to power generation and transportation, Brookfield’s Becky Lumlock, Gabriele Montesi, and Vincent Kerboull break down how the Brookfield ecosystem is helping to bring 2024’s Paris Games to life.

Featured Speakers

Becky Lumlock

Operating Partner, Infrastructure

Becky Lumlock

Operating Partner, Infrastructure

Becky Lumlock is an Operating Partner in Brookfield's Infrastructure Group. In this role, Ms. Lumlock is responsible for working with European portfolio companies to support their growth and to mitigate risk. Ms. Lumlock also provides global oversight of health, safety, security and environment programs for our portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2022, Ms. Lumlock was an executive at a U.K. rail network operator. Previously, she worked internationally on four continents for two global oil companies in a wide range of senior leadership positions including Country Deputy President and COO.

Ms. Lumlock holds a combined Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and sociology from the University of York.

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Gabriele Montesi

Operating Partner, Infrastructure

Gabriele Montesi

Operating Partner, Infrastructure

Gabriele Montesi is an Operating Partner in Brookfield's Infrastructure Group. In this role, Mr. Montesi is responsible for working with European portfolio companies to support their growth and to mitigate risk.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2010, he worked in mergers and acquisitions and capital markets for a leading investment bank.

Mr. Montesi holds a combined Bachelor of Arts degree from Regent’s University London.

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Vincent Kerboull

Managing Director, Real Estate

Vincent Kerboull

Managing Director, Real Estate

Vincent Kerboull is a Managing Director in Brookfield’s Real Estate Group. In this role, he is responsible for originating and executing investments in France and Benelux.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2018, Mr. Kerboull worked for Blackstone in its European real estate group and at Lazard Freres & Co. in Paris.

Mr. Kerboull holds a Master of Finance degree from ESCP Europe and a Master of Civil Engineering degree from ESTP Paris.

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What Does it Take to Bring the Olympic Games to Life?

This event involves years of preparation, planning, and transportation, not only for the athletes themselves but also things like the sports equipment for competition, furnishings for the Olympic Village, stadium seats, and so much more. From telecom and data infrastructure to power generation and transportation, let’s take a look at how far ahead the preparation starts, and what an undertaking of this scale entails...

Years Ahead

Along with ensuring over 14,000 Olympians and 10 million spectators arrive in Paris, the Games this summer will require transporting vital goods and materials: furniture, sports equipment, food, bleachers and mobile seats, vehicles and more.

These supplies will be transported through international shipping routes, including railways and shipping containers. Brookfield companies like Triton, the world’s largest owner and lessor of shipping containers, and our rail freight business in the UK and Europe, will ensure precious cargo makes it safe and on time.

Months Ahead

As these physical items make their way to Paris, there’s another piece of infrastructure that enables viewers to watch the Games from anywhere: broadcasting towers. They allow us to see the details in an instant replay in high-definition.

To instantaneously broadcast to millions, there is a series of infrastructure buildouts that need to be up and running. TDF, the largest owner and operator of broadcasting and telecom towers in France, installed and operates the largest broadcasting tower, atop the Eiffel Tower and able to broadcast to about 12 million people, roughly covering Paris and the surrounding suburbs.

Weeks Ahead

It's not just the broadcast signal or the connections themselves, it's also the storing and transmitting of data. Technology and infrastructure enable the signal for our cell phones to receive and transmit data instantaneously, whether we're checking the weather or navigating on a maps app.

Data hosting is critical for content delivery networks, especially in stadiums where 10,000 to 20,000 people can assemble for an event. Web apps at our fingertips are hosted by another Brookfield company, Data4, which has a number of sites in the region near Paris.

Let the Games Begin!

Now that preparations are in place, thousands of athletes, staff, and spectators are starting to arrive in Paris. With the support of Brookfield Properties, especially our student housing and hospitality businesses, close to 8,000 nights have been offered to the “behind the scenes” teams that will ensure a smooth event.

Brookfield’s infrastructure investments will also help to keep the lights on: we recently announced an investment in Neoen, one of the largest independent producer of renewable energy in France. The company currently has 1.6 gigawatts of operational capacity up and running in France, which can power over 750,000 homes.

Where We Go From Here

Over 14,000 athletes from more than 200 countries will compete in 878 medal events — from beach volleyball under the Eiffel Tower to the Marathon starting at the Hotel de Ville.

While the Olympics provides a deadline to public infrastructure investment, an event of this scale initiates an investment cycle to upgrade infrastructure and other important real assets for years to come.