LILLE, France — An apparent arson attack on France’s high-speed rail network early Friday morning disrupted travel for thousands of people the morning of the Olympic opening ceremony and directly hurt the route designated to transport USA Basketball’s men’s and women’s teams between Paris and Lille, the site of the early games of their tournaments.
In separate statements, French rail operator SNCF described the fires as “a massive attack on a large scale to paralyze” the rail network, which was “the victim of several simultaneous, malicious acts overnight,” including fires set to train stations. The SNCF also said there would be delays and cancellations at least through the weekend “while repairs are conducted.”
Paris Olympic organizers confirmed that one of the lines struck was the northeastern line that connects Lille, a French city on the Belgian border that is hosting the men’s and women’s tournaments in an outdoor soccer stadium, and Paris, where USA Basketball is staying.
USA Basketball’s men’s and women’s teams are the only basketball teams not staying in Lille for the first week of the Olympics. Instead, the delegation rented entire hotels in both cities with plans to practice mostly in Paris and to commute roughly an hour by rail to Lille the night before each game.
The U.S. women’s team practiced in Lille Thursday evening and was on a 9 o’clock train back to Paris.
The U.S. men’s team plays Serbia at 5:15 p.m. local time Sunday, and the women’s team’s first game is against Japan at 9 p.m. local time Monday.
A spokeswoman for USA Basketball did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As of Friday morning, trains going from Lille to Paris were delayed by 90 to 120 minutes. It was not immediately known how the attacks would affect the travel of basketball delegations staying in Lille — where a satellite Olympic village was constructed — for the opening ceremony, which is to take place in a first-of-its kind floating parade down the River Seine at 7:30 p.m. local time.
On Thursday evening, Gar du Nord, Paris’ central train station, had a sizable police presence inside and outside the station, with officers patrolling the perimeter carrying automatic rifles.
This story will be updated.
(Photo of an SNCF train at a maintenance center in Saint-Denis, France, in June: Emmanuel Dunand / AFP via Getty Images)
