insidethegames was granted unique access to the Salle Greard in the University where Baron Pierre de Coubertin persuaded his peers to found the International Olympic Committee, a decision which led to the first of the modern Games taking place in Athens two years later.

Inside the darkly-panelled, medium sized room a Movement of enormous reach and influence was born – and Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, took the opportunity to emphasise the commitment of the city and the country to hosting the Games.

Speaking to insidethegames after a Paris 2024 Board meeting within the Sorbonne involving all the major stakeholders held to coincide with Olympic Day, Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, said: "Today was an important day to show the unanimous support of all the political parties and leaders for the Paris 2024 bid.

“It has been the case since the beginning that we have had this support, and that of all the athletes mobilised for the bid, so this is not something new.

“We started planning a long time ago, but Olympic Day gives us an opportunity to show the world that the people of Paris welcome the Games.

“We also have the support of all our athletes who have mobilised today in support of the Games.

“We are here today to give something to future generations.”

Throughout the day thousands of school children from across Paris and St Denis took part in a festival of Olympic sport in the French capital city in a celebration of sport and the unique spirit of Olympism.

At the Marville Sports Complex in St Denis, hundreds of children took part in sports activities, assisted by French sporting figures such as sprinter Murielle Hurtis, who grew up on a couple of kilometres away.

“We have a culture of sport in France,” Hurtis told insidethegames.

"Today we are here to give something back to future generations."

The French NOC President, Denis Masseglia, said: "The birthplace of modern Olympism, France has a rich Olympic heritage and it is fantastic to see so many young people celebrating our wonderful sporting history with such enthusiasm.

"Paris 2024 will be a spectacular centenary Games of style and substance that will celebrate Olympic values and echo Pierre de Coubertin’s vision of a better world through sport.”

The political solidarity evident around the Paris 2024 bid is in marked contrast to the messages now coming out of Rome, where the newly elected Mayor, Virginia Raggi, has wasted no time in reiterating her opposition to the city’s bid for the 2024 Games.

The Five Star Movement politician, a 37-year-old lawyer, who won the election on Sunday (June 19) with 67.2 per cent of the vote, reaffirmed: "It's not really a priority for the people of Rome.

 "They seem to me to be more like construction Olympics than sporting Olympics.

"The economic and historic data tells us all the cities that have hosted them have indebted themselves to the hilt."