Review: The 2024 Paris Olympics, by Steve Kaffen (Russia 1994-96; HQ staff 2003-11)
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Sue Hoyt Aiken (Ethiopia, 1962 – 64) reviews Steve Kaffen’s The 2024 Paris Olympics. This memoir is available on Amazon.
Title: The 2024 Paris Olympics
Author: Steve Kaffen (RPCV Russia 1994-96; HQ staff 2003-11)
Published: May 3, 2025
Review by Sue Hoyt Aiken (Ethiopia, 1962-64)
Steve Kaffen, who has published more than a dozen books on his travels, has written a new memoir to accompany not only his extensive photography but his personal experiences on the road. The 2024 Paris Olympics serves as a comprehensive travel memoir, blending personal anecdotes, Olympic highlights, and reflections on global exploration.
The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris were a massive event, featuring 10,500 athletes from 206 countries competing in 32 sports, attended by over 10 million visitors and supported by 45,000 volunteers – try and wrap your head around those numbers! One of the highlights was the opening ceremony held along the Seine with roughly 300,000 spectators, and Kaffen was able to attend 15 other events across 12 sports during the course of his time in Paris. Of particular interest are his descriptions of the camaraderie among fans in his exploration of “fan zones”, the dedication of volunteers plus the challenges of navigating the city. You feel you are with him on trains, buses and boats as he navigates Paris and shares many beautiful photographs, generally several to a page.
In addition to being a travelogue of his Olympics trip, the e-book is also a memoir, as he tells stories from his past like his first visit to Paris during a college trip and then later in his life and career living there for three years as an employee of Arthur Young. His reflection on his life long love of Paris is especially touching.
Steve Kaffen is clearly an author that cares about the people he meets, but also cares about his readers, as he encourages us to take risks, explore new horizons and take our own memorable journeys through life.
Sue Hoyt Aiken (Ethiopia, 1962 – 64) was inspired to travel afar by her paternal grandparents who, in the early 1900s, traveled with two small boys from Wichita, Kansas to Kenya for a life-changing vocation as Quaker Missionaries. As a Peace Corps volunteer, Sue was able to visit this mission during a break from teaching in nearby Ethiopia. Also a life changing experience. And, Sue will be visiting Paris for the first time in the very near future.