Paris Olympics: What You Need to Know
Image Courtesy of DEADLINE
By Noah Slayter
This Summer, the world’s top athletes will travel to the City of Love for the 2024 Olympics. The last time Paris hosted the Olympics was exactly a hundred years ago in 1924.
Here is everything you need to know about the international competition.
How Do I View the Olympics?
NBC has the primary rights to stream the events. They will show the opening and closing ceremonies on their various channels. The network will also provide viewers with nine hours of daytime event coverage on their cable channels, as well as the most popular final competitions (such as soccer and gymnastics).
Any and all events can be viewed on NBC’s streaming channel “Peacock.”
Hyperlinked is a Peacock student discount for $1.99 a month, with ads. (A CUA email is needed.)
When Are the Events?
The opening ceremony is on July 26 at 2:24 am EST.
(One caveat is that some events will start before the opening ceremony, on July 24 and 25 such as soccer, rugby, handball, and archery.)
The most popular events are artistic gymnastics, swimming, and athletics (track and field). These events are purposefully spread out throughout the whole of the Olympic dates.
The full Olympic schedule can be seen HERE.
The closing ceremony is on August 11, at 2:pm EST.
Opening Ceremony On the Seine?
This year, France has pulled out all the stops. The last two Olympics were under the gray cloud of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Since this is the first game on the bright day of post-pandemic freedom, the “La Ville Lumièr” (City of Lights), has chosen to take their Olympic Games to the next level.
For starters, the opening ceremony will not take place in a stadium or hall.
The events will take place on boats floating down the Seine.
The ceremony typically showcases the host country/city’s history and cultural influence. It also includes all the Olympians marching in holding their respective national flags. This year though, everything, including all the athletes will be flowing down the Parisian riverside.
Dancing is a Sport Now?
This year “Breaking,” commonly known as Break Dancing, will be a competitive sport debuting at the Olympics.
Per the Paris 2024 website, “breaking” will be judged accordingly:
“At the Paris 2024 Games, the breaking competition will comprise two events – one for men and one for women – where 16 B-Boys and 16 B-Girls will go face to face in spectacular solo battles. Athletes will use a combination of power moves – including windmills, the 6-step and freezes – as they adapt their moves and improvise to the beat of the DJ’s tracks in a bid to secure the judges’ votes and take home the first Olympic-breaking title.”
The Olympic breaking events will take place Aug. 9-10.
Russia is Banned.
Last week, Feb. 23, the International Olympic Committee dismissed Russia’s appeal from the Court of Arbitration for Sports, an international athletic judiciary.
The court said that because Russia was using sporting teams from portions of Ukraine (regions that Russia has occupied since their Feb. 2022 invasion), they committed “a breach of the Olympic Charter.”
Russia still has the opportunity to appeal this decision to the Switzerland Supreme Court (the Swiss handle these decisions since they remain neutral in all international military conflicts).
The Medals Are Made With What?
This year, all the gold, silver, and bronze medals for the Olympic and Paralympic athletes will retain a hexagonal piece of the “La dame de fer”, Iron Lady. The wrought iron of the Eiffel Tower will be recovered and placed in each of the medals.
Beach Volleyball Under the Eiffel Tower???
The French organizers of this year’s Olympic Games have decided to display their iconic Parisian monuments as stages for their tournaments. The Palace of Versailles, for example, will host the equestrian games, and the Eiffel Tower will shadow over Beach Volleyball matches.
Who’s on Team USA? Messi? Simone Biles?
Questions remain about who will compete with the US this summer.
Soccer player, Lionel Messi has begun competing with “Inter Miami CF,” but is unable to compete with Team USA since he is an Argentinian citizen. He may not be able to play even for his native country either.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner has mentioned his intention to compete in the “Copa America” tournament, which finishes only two weeks before the Olympic games. This makes it unlikely he will be ready for another huge tournament.
However, the Argentinian coach for this year’s Olympics has said the “door is open” for Messi to join.
Simon Biles has also made comments that she intends to compete in Paris. The eight-time Olympic gold medalist last competed in Tokyo for the Olympics in 2021, but dropped out of some of the events due to the “twisties” ( ie a mental block).
Biles seems intent on competing, attempting to retain her colloquial status as the “GOAT” (Greatest Of All Time), which she wears proudly and literally with horned rams seen on her leotards.
