Olympics
What you need to know about the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony
Paris will begin its Olympics extravaganza with an unprecedented opening ceremony on the river Seine on July 26th.
Here is what you need to know about the ceremony:
WHAT WILL WE SEE?
Organisers have promised a show like no other.
Unlike for previous Olympics, the Paris 2024 opening ceremony will not take place in a stadium.
Instead, dozens of boats will carry thousands of athletes and performers on a 6km route along the Seine.
Departing from the Austerlitz bridge, the parade will sail by Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral and arrive near the Eiffel Tower, after passing under bridges and gateways, including the Pont des Arts and Pont Neuf, and near many of the French capital’s landmarks.
Organisers have said they will take advantage of the historic monuments, the riverbanks, the sky and water “and there won’t be a single riverbank or bridge that won’t be filled with music, dance, or performance.” The show will have twelve parts, some of which will play on clichés about France.
Athletes and artists will take part in the parade together.
“Everything will be woven together, including the protocol (the speeches, the opening by the head of state, the anthems, etc.),” organisers Thomas Jolly et Damien Gabriac told Le Monde newspaper.
The ceremony is due to start at 7.30 p.m. (1730 GMT) and last about four hours. Organisers said it would reach a climax at around 9.35 pm when the sun sets.
WHO WILL BE THERE?
The show will be attended by over 100 heads of state and government and over 300,000 spectators will watch from the river’s banks, organisers said, adding that there will be some 80 giant screens along the way.
The Paris 2024 committee said there would be about 10,500 athletes and some 222,000 people will get free invites, while 104,000 will have to buy a ticket.
Boats carrying the athletes will be equipped with cameras to allow those watching on TV or their phone to get a close-up view, the committee said.
There have been training sessions, and boats will be stored in a warehouse for a week before the opening ceremony for security reasons.
WHAT ABOUT SECURITY?
Organising the ceremony in the heart of an iconic city like Paris may make for great pictures, but it’s also a major security challenge.
Some 45,000 police will be dispatched to ensure the ceremony’s security, including special intervention forces. Snipers will be deployed on the top of buildings along the route. An anti-drone system will be in place.
Spectators and local residents alike will need to carry permits on a QR code to get anywhere near the riverbanks from July 18th. Cars won’t be allowed into the area, with few exceptions. Nearby metro stations will be closed, as will many of the bridges. No planes will be allowed to fly over Paris – unless they are part of the ceremony.
With wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and security concerns at home, France already has its security alert at its highest level.
Officials have said there were no specific terror threats to the July 26 ceremony.
But should specific concerns arise, there are backup plans, that would either see the ceremony limited to the Trocadero square near the Eiffel tower, or the Stade de France stadium.
The main potential risk would be from a lone attacker, officials have said over the past months, while also flagging potential petty crime and possible protests, from environmental activists, the far right and far left, the pro-Palestinian movement or others.
A man was arrested in May in Saint-Etienne, suspected of planning an attack in the name of Islamic State at the city’s soccer stadium during the Olympics. A right-wing sympathiser was arrested in eastern France in July on suspicion of plotting attacks to take place during the Olympics.
PAST SUMMER OLYMPICS’ OPENING CEREMONIES
Tokyo 2020: The opening ceremony was overshadowed by the Covid pandemic. Postponed by a year due to the coronavirus, the Games were held largely without spectators.
Rio 2016: A financially constrained Brazil had little choice but to put on a more low-key show, with minimal technology and a heavy dependence on the vast talent of Brazil and its Carnival party traditions.
London 2012: The 86-year-old Queen Elizabeth put aside royal reserve in a video where she stepped onto a helicopter with James Bond actor Daniel Craig to be carried aloft from Buckingham Palace as part of a dizzying ceremony designed to highlight the grandeur and eccentricities of the nation.
Beijing 2008: About one billion people, or 15 percent of the world’s population, watched the opening ceremony, which involved 10,000 performers, 2008 drummers and a dramatic sky-walking finale.
-Reuters
Athletes at the Milano Cortina Winter Games have raced through their free condom supply ahead of Valentine’s Day, leaving dispensers empty on Saturday, with more than a week of competition remaining.
According to a report by Reuters, organisers had distributed around 10,000 condoms across the city and mountain accommodation sites, continuing a long-standing Olympic tradition aimed at promoting safe relationships among competitors living in close quarters.
By Saturday, however, supplies had run out — adding Milan to a growing list of Olympic hosts where demand has comfortably exceeded expectations.
“Clearly, this shows Valentine’s Day is in full swing at the village,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told a press conference. “Ten thousand have been used — 2,800 athletes — you can go figure, as they say.”
Adams added with a smile: “It is rule 62 of the Olympic Charter that we have to have a condoms story. Faster, higher, stronger, together.”
Milano Cortina organisers later acknowledged that stocks had been depleted due to “higher-than-anticipated demand,” but assured that additional supplies were already on the way.
“Additional supplies are being delivered and will be distributed across all Villages between today and Monday,” organisers said in a statement. “They will be continuously replenished until the end of the Games to ensure continued availability.”
The unexpected shortage also surprised some athletes.
Mexican figure skater Donovan Carrillo said he had only just heard about the situation. “I just saw that this morning. I was, like, shocked as everyone else,” he said.
Mialitiana Clerc, an alpine skier representing Madagascar, noted that boxes once placed at building entrances were quickly emptied.
“There were a lot of boxes at the entrance of every building where we were staying, and every day, everything had gone from the boxes,” Clerc said. “I already know that a lot of people are using condoms, or giving them to their friends outside of the Olympics, because it’s a kind of gift for them.”
While medals remain the official measure of achievement at the Games, the empty dispensers suggest that the social side of the Olympics is also proceeding at full pace.
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday awarded a top state honour to an Olympic skeleton racer who was disqualified from the Winter Games for wearing a helmet commemorating athletes killed in the war with Russia.
Zelenskiy, speaking to Vladyslav Heraskevych on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference, said he had great respect for “all the Olympians who supported you and your position.”
“Medals are important for Ukraine and for you, but it seems to me that the most important thing is who you are,” Zelenskiy said while presenting the racer with the Order of Freedom.
Heraskevych told the president the award was “huge” and that the athletes depicted on the helmet “deserve it even more. Because of their sacrifice, we can compete in the Olympics.”
Heraskevych, 27, was disqualified at the Winter Games in Italy on Thursday when the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation jury ruled that the helmet’s depiction of athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 breached rules on political neutrality.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed his appeal on Friday.
Heraskevych told reporters after the award ceremony that his disqualification was discriminatory as he had not violated the Olympic Charter, a document he said he “really valued.”
“But at the same time, I understand that this scandal has united people around the world about our problem and about the sacrifice of these great athletes, and I believe this goal is much more important than any medal,” he said.
Speaking before the CAS hearing earlier in the day, Heraskevych said his exclusion and rules imposed by the International Olympic Committee were “an instrument of propaganda for Russia. I still receive a lot of threats from the Russian side.”
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Ukraine’s skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Milano Cortina Winter Games on Thursday over the use of a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia, the International Olympic Committee said.
He was informed of his disqualification after a meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry early in the morning at the sliding venue.
His team said they would appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Coventry told reporters she had wanted to meet the athlete face to face in a last-ditch effort to break the impasse.
“I was not meant to be here but I thought it was really important to come here and talk to him face to face,” Coventry told reporters.
“No one, especially me, is disagreeing with the messaging, it’s a powerful message, it’s a message of remembrance, of memory.
“The challenge was to find a solution for the field of play. Sadly we’ve not been able to find that solution” she added, choking up.
“I really wanted to see him race, It’s been an emotional morning.”
The IOC offered him the opportunity to display his “helmet of remembrance” depicting 24 images of dead compatriots before the start and after the end of Thursday’s race at the Games, while also allowing him to wear a black armband while competing.
“I am disqualified from the race. I will not get my Olympic moment,” said Heraskevych.
The skeleton competition starts later on Thursday.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Asian Football Confederation Says Iran Has Not Notified It of Any World Cup Withdrawal
Egypt, Saudi move camps from Qatar and set March 27 friendly in Jeddah
Mexico City’s Zocalo breaks Guinness World Record for largest soccer class ahead of World Cup
- DIPLOMACY7 days ago
Trump calls on Australia to give asylum to Iranian women’s soccer players
- OBITUARY6 days ago
Nigeria’s Sports Community Mourns Adegboye Onigbinde, A Life Devoted to Football
- World Cup1 week ago
Iraq coach calls for delay to World Cup playoff amid travel shutdown
- DIPLOMACY1 week ago
Morocco Backs Gulf Security, Condemns Iranian Attacks Against Brotherly Arab States
- OBITUARY7 days ago
Breaking! Former Super Eagles Coach Adegboye Onigbinde Dies Four Days After Clocking 88
- World Cup3 days ago
Iran’s World Cup uncertainty: Could Nigeria benefit from a rare FIFA wildcard?
- World Cup1 week ago
1990 World Cup Winner Riedle Backs Spain, France, Brazil for 2026 Glory
- Nigerian Football5 days ago
Nigeria’s First Modern Stadium Turns 68, But Lies in Neglect