In adding the three final signatures to a document that guaranteed to restrict public spending on the Games to the originally announced level of €1.5 billion (£1.3 billion/$1.8 billion), Anne Hidalgo - Paris Mayor and President of the Games delivery body - Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Tony Estanguet, Paris 2024 President, were establishing a foundation for their own grand design.

As the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission, chaired by Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant, makes its first visit to Paris tomorrow and on Tuesday (June 19) to check on the progress of the Games plans, Paris 2024 organisers are intent on demonstrating just how carefully they have listened to advice in fine-tuning the bid which proved triumphant in Lima on September 13 last year.

The official Paris 2024 take on the protocol was this:

"The protocol guarantees that proposed budgets will be scrupulously respected; reinforces the 'legacy' aspect of the project with its focus on delivering benefits to communities; and enables the optimisation of the Games plan, in order to further improve the experience of every participant group."

Since getting the nod over Los Angeles in the Lima IOC Session - with the US city being awarded the 2028 Games - the Paris 2024 Committee, in company with the French Government and the City of Paris, have been working on the "Games masterplan".

This process, according to Paris 2024, has paid particular attention to "IOC feedback and its 'New Norm' and Olympic Agenda 2020 recommendations, while also taking care to respect the International Federations' expectations".

"This foundation work is just the first step in a process that will continue over the coming months, with the involvement of all key stakeholders, and especially the national and international sports federations," Paris 2024 said. 

"The aim is to deliver a final masterplan that is optimised for all stakeholders in the Games, based on three 'core pillars' that underpin Paris 2024's strength.

"These are an exceptional concept, further improved for an even better athlete experience; a strong and certain legacy for all stakeholders in the Games; and controlled costs, in line with commitments made during the bid phase."

Those three pillars stood up tall during Estanguet's address before the protocol signing.

The 40-year-old Paris 2024 President - Olympic champion in the C1 canoe class at the 2000, 2004 and 2012 Games - emphasised the diligence with which his organisation has been liaising with all relevant bodies.

"Paris 2024's ambition is to stage Games that are different, and which will light up history," Etanguet said. "The 'New Norm' put in place by the IOC, in the framework of Agenda 2020, is shared by everyone involved in co-creating this great project.

"We want these Games to surprise people - with the celebration and the capacity to meet citizens' expectations, and also in terms of keeping to the budget envelope agreed. The signing of this protocol is proof of the merits of our approach, and the product of collective work towards an ambition shared by all stakeholders.

"We are proud to be leading the Games into a new era. 

"Our project is getting stronger every day. Today, it is already much stronger than on September 14 last year, following our win. But the work continues. And together with all our partners, the IOC, the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) and all the committed stakeholders alongside us, we will continue to work every day to offer Games of ever greater benefit to our country."

It was the stakeholders of the public sector who ensured April 1 this year turned out to be anything but a joke for Paris 2024 when a Government report by budgetary inspectors sounded a general warning note, highlighting "abnormally expensive" plans for volleyball and badminton courts on which they foresaw an overspend of €50 million (£44 million/$61 million) on a current cost of €172 million (£151 million/$212 million).

This potential problem has since been addressed, and it was confirmed on Thursday that while volleyball was likely to remain at the Le Bourget venue in the north-east of the city, badminton was likely to move to a temporary venue in the city centre, on the Champs de Mars.

But the main point of difference between the original bid plans and the new blueprint was the decision to drop plans to build a large, 15,000-capacity permanent aquatics venue alongside the Stade de France.

And the way in which an alteration that could be seen as negative was turned into a positive, not just in terms of presentation but in actuality, said much about the intelligence of the Paris 2024 bid.

Indeed, having reiterated the three pillars of wisdom, Estanguet cited the Aquatics Centre shift as an exemplification of the Paris 2024 aspirations.

For Paris 2024 it ticks all three boxes. Although the swimming will now be held in a temporary rather than a permanent arena, the excitement and intensity of the experience - for both competitors and spectators - will be maintained by the fact that the capacity will remain at 15,000.

While it is being used for the Games diving and water polo events, the permanent pool will have a capacity of 5,000 seats, which will be reduced to 2,500 when it becomes open for swimming to the general public after the Games, offering a 50 metre and a 25m pool.

So the new arrangement at the Plaine Saulnier will now involve five pools that, according to the Paris 2024 release, "will allow the perfect organisation of aquatic competition (swimming, water polo and diving) on one and the same competition site, and no longer on two sites, thus generating special economies and thus immediate functional advantages".

And finally, heritage. The Seine-Saint-Denis department is already building three swimming pools for the area before Paris 2024.

"The Olympic Aquatics Centre will remain a permanent facility, but with a redefined concept to help control costs, while also delivering a stronger legacy for local residents and, in particular, the children of Seine-Saint-Denis," says the Paris 2024 release.

"All told, the project will allow us to leave Seine-Saint-Denis with eight pools as a result of the Olympic heritage, as opposed to the five originally envisaged, in a department that is considerably lacking in sporting facilities and where only half of the young people know how to swim.

"This strong heritage for the area will be largely supported by the Games budget.

"In order to make this scenario possible, Paris 2024 has effectively increased its contribution by more than 40 million euros."

The financial shift also tells the story of the Paris 2024 flexibility.

In order to soothe rising concerns from the Government, the Paris 2024 Organising Committee has found funds in its own budget to increase spending on the new aquatics proposals, moving up from €50 million (£44 million/$58 million) to €90 million (£79 million/$105 million).

That has also facilitated a decrease in the Government's commitment to the aquatics project, from €100 million (£87 million/$118 million) to €80 million (£70 million/$93 million).

Estanguet added afterwards: "We are not saving money. It's only the same amount of money from the Government. 

"But it is not the same items."

The overall budget for hosting the Games was initially set at €6.8 billion (£5.9 billion/$8.3 billion), with an investment of public money of €1.5 billion (£1.3 billion/$1.8 billion).

Compared to recent Summer Games, that figure is very low. Public sector funding of the London 2012 Games, for instance, was reported to have been £9.3 billion (€10.63 billion/$12.35 billion).

Etienne Thobois, the Paris 2024 director general, offered the following analysis of the latest Games plan to insidethegames.

"Basically we needed to make a project review," he said. "We heard things from the IOC Evaluation Commission, we heard things from the International Federations, and we had studies from the Government budgetary inspectors.

"So we got all that together and started to challenge the concept with three big principles lying behind us.

"The three big drivers as far as Tony and myself were concerned were - how can we optimise and enhance the Games experience, for everyone, first and foremost the athletes, but also for the stakeholder, the media and the public?

"Secondly was to maintain the level of public investment. Making sure that the financial commitments were kept. And the third thing was to maintain our ambition on the legacy side.

"This is why Tony said he didn't want to choose between a spectacular Games and a strong legacy, a Games that is useful for the population. So that's basically the framework.

"And that's what we have delivered. Tony said about the aquatics legacy as an example. Good for the Games, good for legacy, good for finance. The concept is better for all.

"So this is what we are going to suggest to the IOC."

On the subject of shifting the badminton - a subject dear to his heart given he represented France in that sport at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics - Thobois added: "The idea is to move the badminton, although we need to discuss this.

"We had the opportunity of a new temporary venue in the centre of Paris. The Grand Palais are planning to create a new space for use at the Champs de Mars, and they asked us 'would you be interested in having an opportunity to use this?'

"We have taken them up on the idea. It's about being flexible and taking opportunities as they come."

The Grand Palais - the giant exhibition hall and museum venue built on the Champs-Élysées for the Universal Exhibition of 1900 - will undergo renovation work from early 2021 to spring 2023.

Once work is completed, the venue - through which riders passed on the final stage of the Tour de France last year - is due to host the taekwondo and fencing during the Games.

In the meantime, however, it plans to set up a temporary venue - Grand Palais éphémère - for hosting regular events such as the La Biennale Paris and Chanel fashion shows.

Early last week it was announced that the temporary venue would be at the Champs de Mars, near the Eiffel Tower, and an offer was made to Paris 2024 to extend its use for the first nine months of 2024.

The proposal, which is being fiercely opposed by local residents, will be submitted for approval to the Paris Council on July 2. But Paris 2024 insiders are confident that, given the support for Hidalgo in the Council, this option is likely to be confirmed.

Another point that the Paris 2024 organisers are keen to make is that, less than a year after being awarded the Games, so much is already built - the scaled-down pool in St Denis is the only permanent new building, other than the Athletes' and Media Villages.

"The Athletes' Village will be maintained in its proposed location and according to existing plans," Paris 2024 announced on Thursday. "Legacy benefits of real value to the local area and its residents are expected to include the undergrounding of power lines; new housing; the creation of new green spaces; and the building of an anti-noise wall."

It is also understood that the Media Village will be reduced in capacity from 1,500 to 1,300.

Hidalgo sounded a suitably fiscally responsible note in her pre-signing address. "When Paris was named host city, we were careful to insist that guarantees were put in place ensuring the Games budget would be scrupulously respected, and that the highest ethical standards would be applied to the project," she said.

"The commitments undertaken by all stakeholders this morning are going to enable us, as expected, to reconcile strict cost management with a powerful legacy for our local communities, based on investments that will deliver real value for residents."

She added: "It is very important for the Government to check the finances and the balance of the budget carefully. It is normal. We must make every centime of every euro count."

Finally, the French Prime Minister, eyes occasionally twinkling over the rims of his specs, added his full support to the venture, praising it for its ambition and "finesse".

That is another key point the Paris 2024 team want to make to their IOC visitors this week - the unity of purpose behind the bid at all political levels.

Once the IOC visit has been overseen, Paris 2024 officials will start to speak to a number of sports, such as judo, badminton and volleyball, about best times in the programme and best venues.

Estanguet's comment earlier this month that there is "space to change the concept" addressed concerns over the budget, but it remains equally true in terms of the eventual shape of the competitions that will take place in the French capital in six years' time from July 26 to August 11.

It may be badminton that moves to the Champ de Mars - if indeed the Champs de Mars is confirmed. But it could yet be another sport. Or it could be badminton and another sport.

"It could be like a game of musical chairs," a Paris 2024 spokesperson told insidethegames. "We have five or six sports that may move, we have one new temporary venue. By moving one sport to a venue we have to keep an amazing experience for the athletes and also to maintain the budget. This is the work.

"But nine months after the Games were won we are able to say we will meet the budget, we will extend the legacy, and we have six to nine months to ensure the whole event will be even better than we envisaged."