Opinion | Postcard from Paris: 3x3 basketball a lesson Hong Kong organisers would do well to learn

Journalists covering the 3x3 basketball at the Paris Olympics are getting in a lot of exercise.

Assuming you get off at the Madeleine station on metro lines 8, 12 or 14, which is among the closest few to the huge venue at La Concorde Plaza, which also hosts breaking, BMX freestyle and skateboarding, the journey starts at exit 3 on Rue Duphot.

A 700-metre walk leads to the main entrance of a venue that covers more than 20 acres, bigger than Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, but which is not the entrance intended for accredited personnel.

Another 500m south to the Tuileries Garden and through security is the venue’s media centre, which offers 200 tabled seats.

To enjoy any real action, however, there is another 500m walk back to where they just came from, just behind the main entrance designed only for ticketed holders and no one else.

From Madeleine’s turnstile, I spent 25 minutes walking under the scorching sun, where the temperature must have been closer to 30 degrees at 5.30pm on Tuesday.