Paris Olympics 2024: What We Know So Far

Sports fans are already looking forward to the Paris Summer Olympics in 2024 after the Tokyo Summer Olympics, which were originally scheduled for 2020, ended.

The Olympic flag was passed from Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike to IOC President Thomas Bach and then to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on August 8 in Tokyo’s Olympic Closing Ceremony.

RELATED READ: Best Tips for Travelling To Paris for the Olympics 2024

A video from Paris, the host city for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, was shown as a part of the handover, highlighting the city’s beauty and sporting prowess.

Although the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris are still years away, it’s never too early to get excited about the XXXIII Olympiad! That said, here’s what we currently know about the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Details like a new sport, events and venues as well as logo design, can be found below.

Paris Olympics 2024: What We Know So Far

Olympic Host for the Third Time

In 2024, Paris will become only the second city in the world to host the Olympics three times (first in 1900 than in 1924) following London. The 2024 event also marks the 100th year since the city hosted the Olympics for the second time.

The games are expected to generate €10.7 billion in revenue and employ more than 250,000 people in the Ile-de-France region of France.

The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris will take place from Friday, July 26 to Sunday, August 11, 2024. Despite the postponements in 2020, the games are still scheduled to take place on time.

Green Olympics

The Olympics are infamous for being a hotbed of waste and destruction, frequently razing ecosystems to make way for brand new stadiums that quickly become ghost towns.

Summer 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021) were billed as the most environmentally friendly ever, with recycled medals, 100 percent renewable energy, and athletes sleeping on cardboard beds.

Paris is taking a cue from Tokyo, but going one step further. Rather than build a brand new stadium, the city will host the majority of its events at the 1995-built Stade de France, with the remainder spread throughout the city.

The Place de la Concorde, the Château de Versailles, and the Grand Palais will all host athletic events, minimizing the need for new structures for the games. Best of all, the opening ceremony will be held on the Seine.

All of these plans are consistent with France’s current green wave, spearheaded by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. Hidalgo has long been a proponent of tough environmental reform, advocating for the pedestrianization of central Paris and the abolition of automobiles from city streets.

The Logo of Paris Summer Olympics 2024

The Paris 2024 logo incorporates three distinct symbols: a gold medal, a flame, and Marianne, the French Republic’s personification.

Each of these symbols is associated with a unique aspect of French identity and values. Additionally, this is the first time in history that the Olympic and Paralympic Games have used the same emblem.

The public, on the other hand, has mixed feelings about the logo. Numerous users on social media have mocked it, claiming it resembles a dating app icon or an emoji rather than a prestigious athletic logo.

A New Event

The Summer Olympic program for 2024 is expected to include 32 sports and 306 events, including the Olympic debut of breaking.

Breaking is a form of competitive breakdancing that combines footwork with athletic moves such as back or head spins. Athletes (dubbed b-boys and b-girls) are judged on a variety of criteria during their routines, including technical ability, creativity, style, speed, strength, rhythm, and agility.

Breaking was a huge hit at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, and the sport was added to the Paris 2024 program in December 2020, alongside surfing, skateboarding, and sport climbing (which debuted at Tokyo 2020).

More Events and Venues for Paris Olympics

The organizers of the 2024 Paris Olympics have released a new list of venues for events, including one that’s located 15,000 kilometres from Paris.

Although the revised venue map must still be approved by the board of directors on December 17th, it is expected to remain unchanged.

The new event calendar is summarized as follows:

Elancourt

The mountain bike events will be held in Elancourt, about 30 kilometres from Paris.  The BMX bike events, meanwhile, will be held in nearby Trappes.

Lille

Lille’s Pierre-Mauroy stadium will host the handball events that were previously scheduled for Paris.

Marseille

France’s southern city of Marseille will host sailing competitions.

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

The track cycling events will be held at the Vélodrome nationale in Saint-Quentin, about 25 kilometers outside of Paris.  Gokilometresso is held in the same town.

Tahiti

France’s overseas territory, French Polynesia includes Tahiti, which is more than 15,000 kilometers away from Paris.

Parisians will be able to attend the surfing competition in Tahiti, but it will be a little more difficult. France’s overseas collectivité d’outre-mer includes Tahiti, the largest island in French Polynesia, making it eligible to compete in the Olympics under the country’s flag.

Vaires-sur-Marne

The Stade nautique here, located about 25 kilometers east of Paris, will host canoeing and kayaking.

Versailles

The modern pentathlon and equestrian events will be held in Versailles, the site of one of the world’s most famous royal residence, located about 20 kilometres outside of Paris.

Paris

Many of Paris’ most famous landmarks are being used as venues for beach volleyball and urban sports like BMX, which are being organized by the Paris Games Organizing Committee in an effort to bring events closer to the CityCenter.

Stade de France – The opening ceremony will be held at France’s 81,000-seat national stadium in the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, followed by athletics and rugby.

Seine-Saint-Denis is one of the poorest départements in France, and the Olympics were intended to catalyze for regional revitalization. Despite the loss of two venues as part of the cost-cutting program, the northern area remains vibrant.

• The Aquatics Centre here will host diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo.

• The athletes will stay in purpose-built Olympic Village accommodations in Saint-Denis, which will then be available as housing for locals.

• Shooting, climbing, and centre center will all take place in Le Bourget, Seine-Saint-Denis.

• Meanwhile, hockey will be hosted in Colombes, which is located in the Hauts-de-Seine département to the west of Paris.

Within the city limits, more locations will be used for Olympic events.

• The swimming event will take place in western Paris at the La Défense Arena. It is a multi-purpose arena that serves as the home of the Stade Français rugby club in addition to hosting a variety of sporting events and serving as a music venue in the evenings.

• The Roland Garros, naturally, will host tennis and boxing events.

• The Parc des Expositions will host table tennis, weightlifting, volleyball, and basketball, as well as the preliminary matches for the basketball events.

• The Accor Arena is home to basketball and gymnastics events.

• The football matches will take place at Parc des Princes, home of Paris Saint-Germain.

• The La Chapelle arena will host rhythmic gymnastics and badminton.

The organizing committee in Paris is also interested in hosting events in non-sporting venues, including plenty of outdoor venues, in order to truly integrate the games into daily life in the city.

• Fencing and taekwondo will take place at the Grand Palais, which is normally used as a museum.

• Several cycling events, including the Tour de France, will be on the Champs-Elysées.

• The Place de la Concorde will host breakdancing and other urban sports.

• The archery event will take place at Invalides, a historic landmark built in 1690 on Louis XIV’s orders for injured soldiers.

• On the Champs-de-Mars, directly across from the Eiffel Tower, wrestling, judo, and beach volleyball will be held.

• Cycling, walking races, marathons, triathlons, and open-water swimming will all take place on or near the Pont d’Iéna in central Paris.

The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics will take place between late July mid-August, 2024, and will be followed by the Paralympic Games, which will take place between August 28th and September 8th, 2024.