All You Need To Know …As the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Officially Opens Today

The Paris Olympics 2024 will be officially launched on Friday with an opening ceremony in the French capital that will buck the trend of all the games that have come before it

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will see competitors parade on boats along the River Seine through central Paris on Friday.

An unprecedented security operation is in place, with organisers also facing challenges over the cleanliness of the Seine, costs and the environmental impact of the Games.

The summer Olympics run from 26 July to 11 August, with 10,500 athletes competing in 329 events.

The Paralympics take place from 28 August to 8 September, featuring 4,400 athletes in 549 events.

The main athletics events will be at the Stade de France, on the northern outskirts of Paris.

There are also Olympic and Paralympic venues in the city centre.

The Pont d’Iena, for example, is hosting cycling events, while beach volleyball is at the Eiffel Tower and the marathon starts at the Hotel de Ville and ends at Les Invalides.

SECURITY

The Games will be protected by the largest peacetime deployment of security forces in French history

Up to 75,000 police, soldiers and hired guards will be on patrol in Paris at any one time, to guard venues and events.

The use of the Seine for the opening ceremony, with crowds watching the parade from the banks, is a first for the modern Olympics.

The original plan was to give free tickets to 600,000 members of the public to watch from the river’s banks.

However, the government was worried about potential threats such as a drone attack, and spectator numbers were scaled back to 326,000.

More than 220,000 of those will be invited guests, and 104,000 will be members of the public who have bought tickets.

Some 44,000 barriers have been erected, with QR codes for residents and others seeking access to the river Seine and its islands. Many of the barriers will be removed after the opening ceremony.

Intelligence services uncovered two plots against the country by suspected Islamic militants in early 2024.

THE GAME’S COST

The cost of this year’s Games is estimated to be about 9bn euros (£7.6bn), less than any of the previous four Games – in Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, London and Beijing.

Much of the funding is coming from private companies, as well as sales of tickets and broadcasting rights.

The government’s official auditors have said it may have to pay between 3bn and 5bn euros (£2.5bn and £4.2bn) for costs such as policing.

MORE INTERESTING FACTS

1. A new Olympic sport: The Paris Games will debut breaking, an urban dance style, for the first time in Olympic history. The move comes after the sport’s success at the Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires back in 2018. The competition will have two events, for both men and women, which will be be held August 9-10.
2. The Eiffel Tower will feature: The historical landmark will be part of the Olympics as the beach volleyball event will take place in a temporary arena situated under the tower. In case that isn’t cool enough, athletes will be able to keep of the iconic Eiffel Tower with them as this year’s Olympic medals are decorated with original iron metal from France’s ‘Iron Lady’.
3. A new mascot: Based on France’s traditional Phrygian hats, The Phryges are the official mascots for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Organisers of the iconic event say the adorable mascot was chosen to represent figures of the French Republic and symbolise freedom.
4. Welcoming back the Seine River: After the first Paris Games in 1900, a century ago, the Seine will be hosting Olympic events again. Both the marathon swimming event and the swimming part of the triathlon will be held there. While swimming has been banned in the Seine River since 1924 due to its weak water quality, Paris organisers invested $1.5 billion to clean it in preparation for the Games.
5. Total gender parity: For the first time in Olympic Games’ history, there will be full gender parity on the field of play at the Paris 2024 Olympics. This means that an equal number of male and female athletes will be competing. To be numerically specific, out of the 10,500 athletes participating at the 2024 Olympics, 5,250 will be women and 5,250 men.

Additional Reports Courtesy: BBC, MailOnline