The Paris 2024 Olympics will officially begin today!
Although the grand opening ceremony takes place today, the Games have already seen two days of action. The initial matches in men’s and women’s football and the opening pool games in rugby sevens began earlier in the week. Yesterday, the rugby sevens progressed to the knockout phase, with hosts France advancing to the men’s semi-finals.
Thursday also saw the start of handball and archery events, the latter of which saw the first world record of the 2024 Games being set. In addition to the sporting action, there have been several sensational stories off the field, including Charlotte Dujardin’s sudden fall from grace for striking a horse and allegations of Canada’s women’s football team spying on New Zealand with a drone.
However, today’s focus shifts to the official opening ceremony of Paris 2024, set to be an event of historic significance. For the first time, the Opening Ceremony will not take place in a stadium. Instead, the organisers have arranged for the city’s iconic monuments, including the River Seine, to play a significant role in the proceedings.
As a result, no events are scheduled for the day, aside from some pre-event shooting practice. The Olympic schedule will resume on Saturday at 7:30 am with the start of the badminton competitions.
While the ceremony is expected to be a positive and exciting display of the host’s vision for the Games, France still faces some challenges. One of their athletes has reported being banned from attending the event due to wearing a hijab.
For a full schedule of Olympic events and dates, you can find the complete programme here.
