On August 8, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games concluded with the Closing Ceremony, which included the handing over of the Olympic flag by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike to IOC President Thomas Bach, who subsequently entrusted the flag to the Mayor of Paris, Anna Hidalgo.
And if there are still a few years to go until the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, it’s never too early to get excited thinking about the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad!
Here are the top five things to know about the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, including a rookie sport, a Pacific venue, logo design, and more!
The centenary of the 1924 Paris Olympic Games
In 2024, Paris will become the second city to host the Summer Olympic Games three times after London (which hosted the 1908 , 1984 and 2012 Olympic Games ).
The Ville Lumière first hosted the Olympic Games in 1900, four years after the multi-sports event was reintroduced in Athens after being banned by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I some 1,500 years earlier.
No Opening or Closing Ceremony was held at the 1900 Olympics, which saw female competitors for the first time in Olympic history, as well as other unique events including Basque ball, underwater swimming and cricket.
Paris hosted the Summer Olympics again in 1924, making it the first city to host the Olympics twice. While the 1924 Olympics Opening Ceremony was held on July 5, some competitions began on May 4, with the Closing Ceremony taking place on July 27.
One hundred years later, on July 26, 2024, Paris will officially welcome the world to the Olympic Games for the third time, while these Olympics will be the sixth to be held in France (in addition to the three Summer Olympics mentioned, France has also hosted the Winter Olympics in three occasions: Chamonix 1924, Grenoble 1968 and Albertville ’92).
The Olympic debut of breaking
The 2024 Summer Olympics program includes 32 sports, which include 329 events; among these sports is break dance , which will make its Olympic debut.
Break dancing includes footwork and athletic movements such as head turns or backwards. Athletes (known as b-boy and b-girl) are judged on a number of criteria throughout their routines, including technical ability, creativity, style, speed, strength, pace, and agility.
B-Boys, finale per l’oro – Breaking | GOG Buenos Aires 2018
Break dancing was a hugely popular event at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, and in December 2020 the sport was officially added to the Paris 2024 schedule along with confirmations of surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing (which made the their Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020).
Speaking at a press conference following the meeting of the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to confirm the Paris 2024 program, IOC President Thomas Bach said the addition of these sports will make the Olympic Games “more gender-balanced. , younger and more citizens “.
“We had a clear priority, to introduce sports that are particularly popular among the younger generations. And also to take into account the urbanization of sport”.
Olympic surfing … in Tahiti
Tahiti – the largest island in French Polynesia , an overseas community of France – will host the surfing competition in Paris 2024.
Tahiti was chosen as the venue by beating competition from four locations in mainland France (Biarritz, Lacanau, Les Landes and La Torche), and when the competition starts in 2024 – at a distance of 15,700 kilometers from Paris – it will break the record for the Olympic event further away to be held outside the host city.
At the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games , equestrian events were moved from the Australian city due to quarantine laws and were instead held five months earlier in Stockholm, Sweden.
The International Surfing Association (ISA) supported the decision, with ISA president Fernando Aguerre telling the BBC that the choice of Tahiti as the Olympic venue “is a testament to the spirit of creativity and innovation of Paris 2024”.
Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic logo
When the Paris 2024 logo was unveiled in 2019, it marked an iconic moment in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. For the first time ever, the same emblem would be used for both competitions.
Described as the “face” of the Games, the coat of arms is a unit of three iconic symbols: the gold medal, the flame and Marianne, a cherished symbol of the French revolution and people.
“First, we wanted this symbol to be the same for the Olympic and Paralympic Games for the first time in history,” said Tony Estanguet, nomination leader for the 2024 Paris Olympics and three-time Olympic canoe champion.
“It is historic, it is to say that we have the same ambition for these two events, to put Olympic and Paralympic athletes on the same level and celebrate the Games in the same way, both in terms of celebration and heritage.”
A marathon for everyone
In another new feature for the Olympic Games, a mass participation marathon open to amateur athletes will be held on the same day as the elite event. The “public” marathon will not start at the same time as the elite competition, but the athletes will run on the same course and in the same conditions as the Olympic event, according to Estanguet.
A statement on the Paris 2024 website reads: “With this event [the mass participation marathon], Paris 2024 invites people from all over France to draw inspiration from the athletic mentality and Olympic values ​​and integrate them into their daily lives.”
“To allow as many people as possible to share this extraordinary experience, different competition formats will be offered so that everyone, experienced or novice athletes, able-bodied or disabled, young or old, can enjoy this truly exceptional moment.”