Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant has claimed Guy Drut's comments have created confusion around the Paris 2024 project ©Getty Images

Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant has claimed comments from fellow International Olympic Committee member Guy Drut have created confusion around Paris 2024, after he described the project as "obsolete, outdated and disconnected from reality".

Drut suggested that the coronavirus pandemic was an opportunity to "reinvent" the Olympic Games and make the event more "sober and responsible".

The former French Minister of Sports and men's 110 metres hurdles champion at Montreal 1976 added that the Paris 2024 project needed to be reconsidered due to coronavirus.

"The beautiful project that we built and carried in the bid phase for Paris 2024 is now obsolete, outdated and out of touch with reality," Drut said.

"The first necessity is to make a budgetary reassessment of what Paris 2024 will cost.

"The Games of yesterday will not be the Games of tomorrow.

"We have to accept it and together imagine a new model."

Along with raising concerns over the cost of hosting the Olympic Games, Drut suggested future editions could see certain sports held in the same location, regardless of whether the Olympics was being hosted.

Beckers-Vieujant, who is chairing the IOC Coordination Commission for Paris 2024, queried the comments made by Drut regarding Paris 2024.

The Belgian official said he understood that Drut's comments were made with a "good intention", but said the message had created confusion around Paris 2024.

He insisted French organisers were seeking to host the Games responsibly and claimed several areas of Paris 2024 were already being reviewed prior to Drut's comments.

The reviews reportedly involve examining the sport programme, as well as management and hospitality at the Games.

Guy Drut, left, had suggested the pandemic was a opportunity to rethink the Olympic Games ©Getty Images
Guy Drut, left, had suggested the pandemic was a opportunity to rethink the Olympic Games ©Getty Images

"His message throws confusion around the Paris 2024 project," Beckers-Vieujant said, according to Belgian newspaper Le Soir.

"And it is unfortunate that he is throwing this pavement in the pond today, without having contacted the members of the Organising Committee, by going it alone.

"It suggests that Paris 2024 does not follow a logic that is responsible, united and respectful on the financial level, whereas it is a vision expressed from the start by its organisers.

"In the light of the COVID-19 crisis, we did not wait to work on the need to go further and think about organising the Games in a different way.

"What is most difficult to digest in his letter is the use of certain words, such as 'obsolete', 'outdated' or 'disconnected from reality'.

 "It is very hard for the Paris 2024 teams because it could not be more opposed to the project they are developing."