Flying the Olympic flag, Paris looks beyond COVID for 2024 games

Olympics - French Olympic medallists arrive with the Olympic flag in Paris - Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris, France - August 9, 2021 French handball players and french Olympic medallists pose with their medals and the Olympic flag as they arrive at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier

PARIS (Reuters) - France rolled out the red carpet for the Olympic flag on Monday, with the host of the next 2024 Summer Games promising to make the sporting spectacle open to the masses after a pandemic-hit Tokyo Games held behind closed doors.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo waved the flag which she was handed in Tokyo during the handover ceremony as she stepped out of the aircraft bringing home some of the country's last athletes.