It has now been seven years since Paris won the right to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The time for reckoning has now come, as the Games calendar approaches 100 days. In exactly 100 days, more than 10,000 athletes and tens of thousands of fans will converge for the start of the 33rd Summer Games.
The previous edition, held in Tokyo, delayed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic and organized in a controlled manner, saw India win seven medals, including a historic gold for Neeraj Chopra, to finish 48th in the ranking – highest ranking in over four. decades. Mirabai Chanu, Lovlina Borgohain, PV Sindhu, Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Bajrang Punia, Neeraj and men’s hockey team won medals in Japan.
It’s from the past. Athletes will now be able to showcase their skills in front of a packed crowd in the French capital. This will be the first time that the City of Lights will host the Olympic Games in a century.
When are the Paris Olympics taking place?
The opening ceremony to mark the “open” Games will take place on July 26. But the sporting action, as is usual, will begin on July 24 with group matches of football, rugby sevens, handball and archery. The Games will run until August 11.
Where will the opening ceremony take place?
The slogan of the Paris Olympic Games is “Games Wide Open” and this will be the first time that a Summer Games opening ceremony will not take place in a stadium but on the Seine.
In line with this ambitious plan, a 6-kilometer boat parade will mark the opening ceremony in front of up to 3,25,000 spectators (initially estimated at 6,00,000) on the banks of the river. Each national delegation will travel on board boats equipped with cameras to allow viewers and Internet users to observe them up close. The parade will end in front of the Trocadéro.
The procession will leave from the Pont d’Austerlitz next to the Jardin des Plantes and will circle the two islands in the center of the city before passing under several bridges and gates.
Athletes on board the parade boats will have an overview of some official Games sites, including the Parc Urbain La Concorde, the Esplanade des Invalides, the Grand Palais and finally the Pont Iéna where the parade will stop before the final of the ceremony at the Trocadéro.
However, French President Emmanuel Macaron said the opening ceremony could be moved to the Stade de France in Saint Denis in the event of a security threat from keeping the event outdoors.
What are the new sports at the Paris Olympics?
Breaking (also known as break dancing) will debut as an Olympic sport while skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing will return from the Tokyo Olympics. Karate, softball and baseball will not be part of the program.
Breaking was first introduced at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. Combining athletics and urban dance, the sport was included in the program. There is also the fact that the organizers and the IOC are seeking to target a young population. The competition will take place as solo battles and the breakers will groove to the DJ’s tracks, including moves such as windmills, six steps and freezes.
Four events have been removed from weightlifting. In canoeing, two sprint events were replaced by two slalom events. In sport climbing, the “combined” event was split to create the separate “speed climbing” and “boulder and lead” events for both sexes.
What are the sites of the Paris Olympics?
The Paris Olympics will see 32 sports, 329 medal events in at least 35 venues over 16 days. To manage such a volume, the Games will be held not only in Paris but also in other cities in mainland France.
Some of Paris’ landmarks will be instantly recognizable to audiences around the world. Beach volleyball will take place in a temporary outdoor arena at the Champ de Mars, a large public park at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Horse riding and modern pentathlon competitions will take place at the Palace of Versailles, one of the emblems of French royal history. The 124-year-old Grand Palais will host fencing and taekwondo events.
The Yves-du-Manoir stadium, site of the opening ceremony of the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, will be used again. This time, the 117-year-old arena will host field hockey competitions.
The Stade de France will host the athletics events and the closing ceremony on August 11. The Parc des Princes, home of Paris St-Germain, will host football matches and Roland Garros will host tennis and boxing events.
The majority of events will take place in France with one exception. The surfing competition will take place in a village on the southwest coast of Tahiti, 16,000 miles from Paris. The organizers chose to hold the surfing events on the island of French Polynesia because it “offers the opportunity to involve French overseas territories and their communities in the Olympic Games – for the first time in the history – while highlighting the rich and diverse heritage of France”.
Nearly 95% of the venues were existing or temporary, with the aquatic center being the only new venue built specifically for the Games.
How many Indians have qualified for the Paris Olympics?
India had sent its largest contingent to Tokyo with 126 athletes participating in 18 events. 100 days before departure, we still do not know how many people will make the trip. So far, 42 Indian athletes have qualified for the Games in France, but this number will increase in the coming weeks as the qualifying events in different sports begin.
The shot helped India reserve 20 quota places for the Paris Olympics, followed by athletics (9), table tennis (6), badminton (5), boxing (4), archery, horseback riding, men’s team hockey, sailing and weightlifting (1).
What is the prize money for the winners of the Paris Olympic Games?
Olympic medalists have not received any monetary awards from the IOC or world federations. This trend has been countered by World Athletics which will hand out $50,000 cash prizes to gold medalists at the Paris Games.
Sebastian Coe, president of the world athletics body, said a total prize pool of $2.4 million had been earmarked for this summer’s Olympics in Paris. He said the money would come from revenue shared by the IOC for the Summer Games.
Are there chances of protests at the Paris Olympics?
With the goal of openness comes the challenge of maintaining security. Europe’s most densely populated city has been shadowed by security concerns in recent months. French officials insisted they were putting strict security measures in place, even if it meant help from allies. A “classic approach adopted by host countries when organizing major international events”, indicated the Ministry of the Interior.
France announced it would deploy 45,000 police, military officers and soldiers across the country during the Games. Everyone involved in the Games – security officials, construction workers, volunteers – will be subject to background checks.
Yet France’s recent history of violence – notably the 2015 terrorist attack in Paris that left 138 people dead and at least 416 injured – raises concerns.
The geopolitical context of the Games is just as troubling. The war between Israel and Hamas has passed the six-month mark, raising fears of conflict and wider regional instability. The devastation in the Gaza Strip has sparked international outrage. The recent attack by Iran has only added to the nerves.
Meanwhile, Russia continues to gain ground in its military offensive against Ukraine, as the war rages into its third year.
These international crises could come into play during the Paris Olympics in the form of protests and other political demonstrations.
What is the status of Russian and Belarusian athletes?
It is still unclear whether the Russian and Belarusian athletes expected to qualify will actually participate. Following a decision last year, the IOC will allow them to compete as “neutrals”, meaning they will not be able to use their country’s flag or anthem, participate in team sports or be on one of the boats during the opening ceremony. Athletes with ties to the military or who have expressed support for the war against Ukraine will be banned.
Russian President Vladimir Putin questioned the rules and asked the Russian Olympic Committee and Sports Ministry to recommend whether the country’s athletes should compete in Paris.
The IOC expects 36 Russian athletes — and possibly as many as 54 — to do well enough in qualifying events to compete in Paris.
Russia sent 335 athletes to Tokyo, winning 20 gold medals out of a total of 71 medals. They competed without national symbols at these Olympics, the 2018 Winter Games and the 2022 Winter Games, due to a doping scandal.
Ukraine, meanwhile, opposed Russian participation in the Paris Olympics, even as a neutral country, but relaxed its policy of boycotting the events. IOC President Thomas Bach suggested that “boycott threats” from both countries were no longer a problem.
