The countdown to the Paris 2024 Olympics is on: here’s a guide to everything you need to know ahead of the Games.
When are the Olympic Games?
The Olympic Games will take place from July 26 has August 11 and the Paralympic Games will take place from August 28 has September 8.
When will the opening ceremony take place?
The opening ceremony of the Games will take place on Friday July 26The event will start at 6:30 p.m. and is expected to last more than three hours.
It will be the first Olympic opening ceremony to take place outside a stadium.
What is the parade route?
Around 10,000 athletes will travel by boat on a 6km course sailing along the Seine and passing iconic Paris landmarks including Notre Dame and the Louvre.
The parade will end at Place du Trocadéro, opposite the Eiffel Tower, where the Olympic cauldron will be lit and the Paris Games will be officially declared open by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Fans are expected to gather in the streets and on the Seine to watch the parade in the capital.
The opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will take place on the other side of the Seine
Which Team GB athletes should I look out for?
Around 327 athletes – 155 men and 172 women – will represent Great Britain at the Paris Olympics. Team GB made history at Tokyo 2020, having more female than male athletes at a Summer Olympics for the first time, and they will do so again.
It is foreseen that Team GB will win 63 medals, one short of the Tokyo 2020 total of 13 golds.
Sky Brown, competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for Team Great Britain
Athletes competing include 15-year-old skateboarder Sky Brown, 1500m world champion Josh Kerr – who could be the first British athlete to receive the award controversial $50,000 cash prizes for the track and field gold medallists – and for sprint star Dina Asher-Smith, who is seeking her first Olympic gold medal.
Tom Daley will also return to the pool in Paris after a two-year absence with the double gold medalist from Tokyo Tom Dean in swimming.
Will Russian and Belarusian athletes be able to compete?
Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, but only as neutral athletes.
Athletes were initially banned from international competition following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year but have gradually been allowed back into most sports as neutrals.
Those wishing to compete must do so without flags, emblems or anthems and must not support the ongoing war.
Support staff should follow the same guidelines.
What about Israeli athletes?
Some Palestinian activists and a group of 26 French politicians have called for Israel to be banned from the Games because of the Gaza war, but the IOC has said it has no plans to sanction Israel.
Where do the athletes stay?
During the two weeks of the Games, athletes live in the Olympic Village. This is a residential complex, usually located near the Olympic Stadium, where athletes from all over the world from all Olympic sports live together.
The Village includes accommodation for athletes, as well as an international area that includes shops, various services and leisure facilities.
Is the Seine clean?
Open water swimming and triathlon events are now due to take place in the Seine, more than 100 years after swimming in the river was banned.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo have said they will swim in the river to show their citizens and visiting athletes that it is safe, but an online campaign threatened to defecate in the river So they postponed the dive.
Earlier this month, the French sports minister swam in the Seine alongside Paralympic triathlon champion Alexis Hanquinquant, who won gold in the men’s PTS4 event at Tokyo 2020, to show people that the river was clean enough for Olympic swimming events.
Are there any new sports?
Victor Montalvo, also known as B-Boy Victor, of the United States, right, wins the championship during the Red Bull BC One B-Boy World Finals at Hammerstein Ballroom, New York in 2022
Yes there is.
Breakdancing, also known as breakdancing, will make its debut as an Olympic sport in Paris.
Sixteen athletes will be present at each event, where they will compete in solo battles. Competitors will have to follow the rhythm of the DJ’s track, improvise against their opponent and use a combination of powerful moves, including windmills, the 6-step and freezes.
The judges will score the moves and the one with the highest score will advance to the next round and the final will decide who will win gold and become the first Olympic breakdancing champion.
Breakdancing joins other recently established “urban” sports including skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing, which are returning from Tokyo 2020.
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