2024 Olympics: Ten questions about the Paris Olympics

As of Wednesday evening, Paris officially became the host city for the 2024 Olympic Games. It is no surprise that the capital, designated by the IOC following the postponement of Los Angeles to host the 2028 Olympic Games, must now begin preparations for the event in seven years. But how will all this happen? Le Parisien answers ten questions on this topic.

• When will the Games take place?

The dates are already known. The 2024 Summer Olympics, the thirty-third in history, will take place from August 2 to 18. This does not mean that all tests will take place during this period. Women’s and men’s football competitions begin on July 31.

• What will happen between now and then?

Several meetings are already planned: the Olympic and Paralympic flags will arrive in Paris in the third quarter of 2020, after the Tokyo Olympics. The mascots will be unveiled in a year, and the recruitment of volunteers will begin in the first months of 2022. Ticket sales will begin in 2023.

• What will the Olympic budget be?

The bill announced so far is 6.6 billion euros. 1.5 billion will be paid from government spending, including 1 billion from the state. Critics of the Paris bid condemn this calculation and highlight the organizers’ chronic failure to maintain their budget. Paris 2024 tells them that much of the infrastructure already exists or will be temporary, limiting the risks of cost spikes.

• What sports will we be able to watch?

The French project includes 28 disciplines of the Rio Olympic Games program. The program will include the great classics: fencing, athletics, swimming, judo, gymnastics, etc. But other sports have already announced their candidacy for inclusion in the Olympic program, for example, petanque or billiards.

• How many sites are ready?

Most of them. Of the 36 sites announced by the organizing committee, 26 already exist. Eight of them will be temporary, for example for beach volleyball on the Champ de Mars. Only two remain to be built: a second hall near Bercy and a swimming pool in Saint-Denis, near the Stade de France.

QUESTION OF THE DAY. Are the 2024 Paris Olympics an opportunity for France?

• Will everything happen in Paris?

The vast majority of competition sites are located in the capital or in the Paris region. Some events are still planned in the provinces: sailing competitions will be held in Marseille, and women’s and men’s football matches will be held in nine cities: Paris (Parc des Princes will be the stadium where the finals will be held), Bordeaux, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, Nantes , Marseille, Lyon and Saint-Etienne.

• How much will the tickets cost?

Tickets will go on sale in the third quarter of 2023, with some pricing information available now. The minimum price for the Olympic Games is 15 euros (10 euros for the Paralympic Games). The organizing committee also promised that 50% of tickets for the Paralympic Games will cost less than 50 euros, 72% will cost less than 20 euros. In total, more than 13 million tickets will be on sale, including 9.7 million for the Olympics alone.

• How to become a volunteer?

Paris plans to recruit between 45,000 and 70,000 volunteers. To be a part of it, you will have to wait until the first quarter of 2022 when recruitment begins. There are only two conditions: to be over 18 years old and speak at least two languages. If volunteers flock from all over the world, chances are: in Rio 2016, 80% of them were Brazilian.

• And where will the Olympic flame go?

There is only one certainty: it will light up at Olympia and end its journey at the Stade de France, where the opening ceremony will take place. The IOC does not impose any stages, and the length of the flame’s journey from Greece can vary from four to two months. As for the final torchbearer, responsible for lighting the cauldron and beginning the two-week period, he is kept secret until the last moment.

• What does this mean in sports history?

Paris is now part of a very exclusive club. Thanks to the organization of the 2024 Olympic Games, the capital became one of three cities to host three Olympic Games. The top three are completed by London (1908, 1948 and 2012) and Los Angeles (1932, 1984, 2028).