French President Emmanuel Macron says the Paris Olympics opening ceremony could move from the River Seine if the security risk is too high.
Mr Macron said it could be “limited to the Trocadéro”, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower, instead of covering the planned stretch of the river.
He added that it could even be moved to the Stade de France, reverting to a traditional ceremony.
He said he would do “everything possible” to have an Olympic truce.
The French president was alluding to a historic tradition that peace must prevail during the Olympic games.
In an interview with BFMTV and RMC at the Grand Palais, one of the Olympic venues, Mr Macron said: “We want to work towards an Olympic truce and I think it is an occasion for me to engage with a lot of our partners.”
The opening ceremony on 26 July is set to be the first to be held outside a stadium. More than 10,000 athletes are expected to sail along a 6km stretch of the Seine on some 160 barges.
The organisers had originally planned to accommodate some 600,000 people to watch the ceremony from riverbanks.
But in light of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the French government is putting in place alternative plans and the numbers of spectators have also been scaled down to 300,000.
It has been revealed that tourists will not be given free access to watch the ceremony.
The free tickets will be by invitation only, not via open registration.
“There are Plan Bs and Plan Cs”, President Macron said, adding, “We are preparing them in parallel, we will analyse this in real time.”
“We’re not being naïve at all. We are being very lucid about it. We are sharing all the [security] intelligence, we have considerable resources, and we know a lot,” he said.
Among possible threats, the French authorities have discussed attacks by drones.
Security concerns have been heightened following the threats by Islamic State to Champions League quarter-final football matches in Paris, Madrid and London.
Last week, a post was shared by Al-Azaim Foundation, a media channel responsible for spreading messages from the IS-K branch of the Islamist militant group.
The same branch claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow last month.
This prompted President Macron to say the organisers might be forced to scrap their plans.
But the organisers have so far denied that the ceremony could be moved to a different venue.
Participating countries including the US and Israel have said that they will take part in the open-air boat parade on the river Seine.
Mr Macron said that despite concerns over security, he was confident the country would nonetheless host a “very grand” opening ceremony on 26 July.
“We can do it and we will do it,” he said.
The competition is set to run until 11 August. The Paralympic Games then follows from 28 August to 8 September.
