Five things to know about the Paris 2024 Olympics
The official Olympics flag has been formally handed to Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo in the closing ceremony of the Tokyo games, so with just three years to go, what do we know about the Paris Olympics?
The closing ceremony of the Tokyo games included a short video from the next host city, Paris, showcasing some of the city's most beautiful sites and some incredible sporting prowess.
So if that whetted your appetite, here are some things to know about the 2024 games.
Dimanche 8 août, sur une composition exceptionnelle de @Woodkid et une réalisation de Valentin Petit :
Nous partagerons au monde un avant-goût de #Paris2024 lors de la cérémonie de clôture de @Tokyo2020
Le 8 août tout commence ! pic.twitter.com/sWsNM2TG3W
— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) August 6, 2021
1 Accessibility
The Paris organisers want to put events at the heart of the city, and to that end several of the capital's biggest landmarks are being pressed into service - beach volleyball is scheduled to be played under the Eiffel Tower, while urban sports including BMX competitions will be in the Place de la Concorde.
Open-water swimming events including the triathlon will utilise the River Seine, which will apparently be clean and safe to swim in by 2024.
MAP: Here is where events will be held for the 2024 Olympics
2 Overseas
Slightly less accessible to residents of Paris will be the surfing competition, which is scheduled to take place in Tahiti. Yes, the Tahiti that is 15,000km from Paris. Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia, which is a collectivité d'outre-mer (overseas collective) and therefore technically counts as part of France in terms of Olympic events.
3 Breakdancing
New for the 2024 Olympics is breakdancing and the Paris organisers want to give this and other 'urban' sports like skateboarding and BMX riding a high profile. Urban events will be held in the Place de la Concorde and the Paris 2023 video at the handover event starred a French BMX rider. (And if you watched the video and are wondering who the man playing the saxophone in space was, that's French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who is currently on the International Space Station).
READ ALSO Paris Olympics logo - 'is is Lisa Simpson or an emoji?'
4 Green
The city of Paris is currently run by mayor Anne Hidalgo, a Socialist with a long-standing interest in environmental policies who is currently in coalition with the Green party, so the sustainability of the Games has been a big theme. Financial constraints have also resulted in the scrapping of two planned new venues, with the organising committee saying it is keen to use and improve existing venues.
There will, however, be a new athletes' village built in the deprived Seine-Saint-Denis area, which after the Games will be converted into housing for local people.
5 Flag
The Olympic flag was formally handed over to Paris at the closing ceremony in Tokyo and will be raised at the Hotel de Ville at 2.30pm on Monday. It will fly there until the end of the Games in 2024. Monday afternoon will see the flag-raising ceremony at Hotel de Ville and a celebration of France's successful Olympians at Trocadero from 5.30pm (health passport required for both events).
Demain, aux côtés des athlètes de l’@EquipeFRA, célébrons le retour du drapeau olympique !
Rendez-vous à 16h30 sur le parvis de l’Hôtel de ville pour hisser le drapeau olympique et à 17h30 au Trocadéro pour un grand moment de fête et de partage ! (Pass sanitaire obligatoire) pic.twitter.com/si3tVRlj3o
— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) August 8, 2021
PS The head of the Paris organising delegation is Tony Estanguet, a three-time Olympic champion in the slalom canoe event, you can follow him on Twitter @TonyEstanguet for all the latest news about Les JO.
Les amis, c’est un grand jour !
Tellement fier d’accueillir les prochains Jeux Olympiques.
Tellement hâte de vous retrouver tous à Paris, en France en 2024.
Nos Jeux de #Paris2024 commencent maintenant ! https://t.co/6rb6XPNWJY
— Tony Estanguet - OLY (@TonyEstanguet) August 8, 2021
Comments (1)
See Also
The closing ceremony of the Tokyo games included a short video from the next host city, Paris, showcasing some of the city's most beautiful sites and some incredible sporting prowess.
So if that whetted your appetite, here are some things to know about the 2024 games.
Dimanche 8 août, sur une composition exceptionnelle de @Woodkid et une réalisation de Valentin Petit :
— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) August 6, 2021
Nous partagerons au monde un avant-goût de #Paris2024 lors de la cérémonie de clôture de @Tokyo2020
Le 8 août tout commence ! pic.twitter.com/sWsNM2TG3W
1 Accessibility
The Paris organisers want to put events at the heart of the city, and to that end several of the capital's biggest landmarks are being pressed into service - beach volleyball is scheduled to be played under the Eiffel Tower, while urban sports including BMX competitions will be in the Place de la Concorde.
Open-water swimming events including the triathlon will utilise the River Seine, which will apparently be clean and safe to swim in by 2024.
MAP: Here is where events will be held for the 2024 Olympics
2 Overseas
Slightly less accessible to residents of Paris will be the surfing competition, which is scheduled to take place in Tahiti. Yes, the Tahiti that is 15,000km from Paris. Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia, which is a collectivité d'outre-mer (overseas collective) and therefore technically counts as part of France in terms of Olympic events.
3 Breakdancing
New for the 2024 Olympics is breakdancing and the Paris organisers want to give this and other 'urban' sports like skateboarding and BMX riding a high profile. Urban events will be held in the Place de la Concorde and the Paris 2023 video at the handover event starred a French BMX rider. (And if you watched the video and are wondering who the man playing the saxophone in space was, that's French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who is currently on the International Space Station).
READ ALSO Paris Olympics logo - 'is is Lisa Simpson or an emoji?'
4 Green
The city of Paris is currently run by mayor Anne Hidalgo, a Socialist with a long-standing interest in environmental policies who is currently in coalition with the Green party, so the sustainability of the Games has been a big theme. Financial constraints have also resulted in the scrapping of two planned new venues, with the organising committee saying it is keen to use and improve existing venues.
There will, however, be a new athletes' village built in the deprived Seine-Saint-Denis area, which after the Games will be converted into housing for local people.
5 Flag
The Olympic flag was formally handed over to Paris at the closing ceremony in Tokyo and will be raised at the Hotel de Ville at 2.30pm on Monday. It will fly there until the end of the Games in 2024. Monday afternoon will see the flag-raising ceremony at Hotel de Ville and a celebration of France's successful Olympians at Trocadero from 5.30pm (health passport required for both events).
Demain, aux côtés des athlètes de l’@EquipeFRA, célébrons le retour du drapeau olympique !
— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) August 8, 2021
Rendez-vous à 16h30 sur le parvis de l’Hôtel de ville pour hisser le drapeau olympique et à 17h30 au Trocadéro pour un grand moment de fête et de partage ! (Pass sanitaire obligatoire) pic.twitter.com/si3tVRlj3o
PS The head of the Paris organising delegation is Tony Estanguet, a three-time Olympic champion in the slalom canoe event, you can follow him on Twitter @TonyEstanguet for all the latest news about Les JO.
Les amis, c’est un grand jour !
— Tony Estanguet - OLY (@TonyEstanguet) August 8, 2021
Tellement fier d’accueillir les prochains Jeux Olympiques.
Tellement hâte de vous retrouver tous à Paris, en France en 2024.
Nos Jeux de #Paris2024 commencent maintenant ! https://t.co/6rb6XPNWJY
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.