TThe Summer Olympics are returning to Paris for the first time in 100 years. The last time the French capital hosted the international competition was in 1924, when 22 sports were featured. This time, 32 sports will be featured, including some that are making their Olympic debut.
Also, for the first time in the history of the Summer Olympics, the opening ceremony will not take place in a stadium, but instead will be held with a boat parade on the River Seine through the city center.
read more: Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has high hopes for the 2024 Olympics
All the information you need to prepare for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
When is the Paris 2024 Olympics?
The opening ceremony of what will officially be the 33rd Olympic Games is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m. ET on July 26, although football and rugby sevens competitions will get underway on July 24. The closing ceremony will take place on Aug. 11.
What is a sporting event?
This summer, 10,500 athletes and refugee teams from more than 200 national committees will compete in 329 events.
The Paris Olympics will see the return of 28 sports following the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics (held in 2021 due to COVID-19), as well as the special addition of four sports: sport climbing, skateboarding, surfing, and breaking. Breaking will be included in the Olympics for the first time. The International Olympic Committee approved the proposal of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee, stating that these additional sports will “contribute to making the Olympic program more gender equal, more youthful and more urban.”
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The competition dates for each event are as follows: For a detailed schedule, please click here.
- archery: July 25th to August 4th
- Gymnastics: July 27th to August 5th
- Artistic Swimming: August 5th to 10th
- Athletics: August 1st to 11th
- badminton: July 27th to August 5th
- basketball: July 27th to August 11th
- Basketball 3×3: July 30th to August 5th
- Beach Volleyball: July 27th to August 10th
- boxing: July 27th to August 10th
- breaking news: August 9-10
- Canoe Slalom: July 27th to August 5th
- Canoe Sprint: August 6th to 10th
- Cycling BMX Freestyle: July 30-31
- Cycling BMX Racing: August 1-2
- Cycling Mountain Bike: July 28-29
- Cycling roads: July 27th to August 4th
- Cycling route: August 5 to 11
- diving: July 27th to August 10th
- Equestrian: July 27th to August 6th
- fencing: July 27th to August 4th
- Football Soccer): July 24th to August 10th
- golf: August 1st to 10th
- handball: July 25th to August 11th
- hockey: July 27th to August 9th
- judo: July 27th to August 3rd
- Marathon Swimming: August 8-9
- Modern Pentathlon: August 8th to 11th
- Rhythmic gymnastics: August 8th to 10th
- Rowing: July 27th to August 3rd
- Rugby Sevens: July 24th to 30th
- Sailing: July 28th to August 8th
- photograph: July 27th to August 5th
- skateboard: July 27th to August 7th
- Sport Climbing: August 5th to 10th
- surfing: July 27th to 31st (subject to weather conditions)
- swimming: July 27th to August 4th
- Table tennis: July 27th to August 10th
- Taekwondo: August 7-10
- tennis: July 27th to August 4th
- trampoline: August 2
- triathlon: July 30th to August 5th
- volleyball: July 27th to August 11th
- Water polo: July 27th to August 11th
- Weightlifting: August 7 to 11
- wrestling: August 5 to 11
Where will the various games take place?
Most, but not all, of the Summer Olympic events take place in or around Paris: 10 of the 35 official competition venues are outside the host metropolitan area, including French cities like Nice, Marseille and Bordeaux. Surfing, however, takes place 10,000 miles away, off the coast of Tahiti in French Polynesia.
Paris 2024 organizers are underscoring their commitment to sustainability by using mostly existing venues, such as the Stade de France, home of the French national football team and site of the closing ceremony and several sporting events, as well as temporary, environmentally friendly facilities, such as the athletes' village, built on the site of a former industrial waste dump. The only permanent competition venue built specifically for the 2024 Summer Olympics is the aquatic centre in Saint-Denis.
Paris 2024 organizers have announced ambitious and controversial plans to hold the marathon swimming events and the Olympic and Paralympic triathlon swimming events in the Seine, a river where swimming has been banned for more than a century due to persistent pollution. But officials acknowledge that swimming events planned in the Seine may have to be postponed or canceled if the water remains too polluted, even after extensive and costly cleanup efforts.
read more: Inside the billion-dollar effort to clean up the world's most romantic river
Are tickets still available?
The Summer Olympics are expected to be watched by millions of spectators in person, according to Paris 2024 organizers, and while some sessions have sold out (early bird buyers who registered for December 2022 have already purchased their tickets), tickets for many events are still available, including for as low as 15 euros (about $16).
How can I watch the Olympics on TV?
NBCUniversal will be the official U.S. broadcaster of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics; with Paris being six hours ahead of Eastern Time, NBC will air at least nine hours of daytime coverage each day, plus three hours of primetime programming looking back at the biggest moments, while streaming platform Peacock will broadcast every sport and event live and with full replays for the first time in Summer Olympics history. NBCU's Telemundo will provide Spanish-language coverage of the Olympics.
The BBC is the official broadcaster in the UK, but other Olympic broadcasters can be found here.
Which countries are expected to perform best?
Team USA is expected to bring home the most medals, marking the team's eighth consecutive Summer Olympics lead. According to a May projection from data analytics firm Gracenote, Team USA is expected to win 39 gold, 36 silver and 50 bronze medals for a total of 125 medals, surpassing the 113 medals the team won at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
read more: Fred Richard is the next Olympic hope for the U.S. men's gymnastics team.
China is expected to follow suit with 90 medals. Great Britain is predicted to come in third with 62 medals. Host nation France is expected to win 55 medals, nearly double the number they won in Tokyo.
When and where will the next Olympics be held?
The Summer Paralympics will take place immediately after the Summer Olympics, starting on August 28th and ending on September 8th.
The Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, in February 2026. The next Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028.
