Two years from today on 26 July 2024, the Australian Olympic Team will join with the other National Olympic Teams from around the world in Paris to celebrate the official opening of the 2024 Olympic Games.
An expected team size of 450 Australian athletes across 34 sports will take their place among 10,500 athletes from around the world, 100 years since Paris last hosted the Olympics in 1924.
Importantly, the Paris Olympics will achieve full gender equality in athlete numbers, as 5,250 female and 5,250 male Olympians compete across 329 medal events, including 20 mixed gender events.
Breaking will make its Olympic debut, with Surfing, Sport Climbing and Skateboarding all returning to the Olympic arena after debuting at Tokyo 2020.
The Opening Ceremony will also break new ground, with Olympians set to travel down the River Seine on boats with an expected crowd of 600,000 lining the river banks to cheer the athletes as part of the Opening festivities.
Paris 2024 Fast Facts
The Games
- Paris becomes the second city to host a third Olympics (1900, 1924, 2024), joining London.
- Paris 2024 will feature 19 days of competition with the Opening Ceremony taking place on the 26th of July. The Handball, Archery, Football and Rugby events will commence two days prior from the 24th of July.
- The Games will see 10,500 athletes contest 329 medal events across 35 sports. This includes 20 mixed gender events.
- Australia is expected to send a team of around 450 athletes.
- The Games achieve gender equality in athlete numbers for the first time.
- At the heart of the Paris 2024 ethos is environmental responsibility and sustainability and as a result, 95% of existing venues will be utilised for competition.
- For the first time in Olympic History, the emblem for both the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be identical.
- The emblem, described as the ‘face’ of the Games combines the gold medal, flame and Marianne - symbolising the revolution and people of France in unity.
Australian Olympic Committee CEO Matt Carroll was excited to mark today’s milestone.
“One year since the enormous success of Australia’s Tokyo Olympic Team and just two years until Paris is an exciting time for the Olympic movement,” Mr Carroll said.
“Our member sports and athletes are busy preparing and competing around the world. It’s fantastic to see the recent results from World Championships, World Cups and other international events and we know Australians will be avidly watching and cheering on the Australian Commonwealth Games Team in Birmingham in the coming weeks.
“The Paris organisers are doing a fantastic job, with some of the venues to be at iconic locations in Paris.
"The Games are championing sustainability and the people of Paris will put on a celebration to share with the rest of the world. I know there are a lot of Australian athletes’ families, friends and supporters who will be in Paris wearing green and gold cheering on our Team in two years’ time.
“The success of the team in Tokyo set a high bar, so we are working hard with each of our sports to maximise their athletes’ performance opportunities in Paris. The shortened gap of three years has brought new challenges in preparation and qualification for the athletes so we are working closely with our sports to ensure they are ready to go in July 2024 – bring it on.”
Paris 2024 Fast Facts
The Events
- Breaking will make its Olympic debut, while Surfing, Skateboarding and Sport Climbing return after making their Olympic debut in Tokyo.
- New disciplines and events in existing sports include: extreme canoe slalom, mixed team race walk, men’s and women’s kiteboarding events and a mixed 470 event in Sailing.
- Some iconic locations will host Olympic events: Eiffel Tower (Beach Volleyball), the Chateau De Versailles (Equestrian and Modern Pentathlon), Tahiti (Surfing).
- On the same day as the Olympic marathon is contested will take place history will be made as an ‘open’ marathon race, open to amateur public athletes, will happen. The special event will be held separately, however will follow the same course and conditions as the Olympic race event.
Triple Olympian and Tokyo 2020 Canoe Slalom C1 gold medallist Jess Fox said a French Games holds a special meaning for her, with her mother and coach Myriam Fox an Olympic bronze medallist for France in Atlanta 1996.
“I was born in Marseille and have always had a strong connection to France, most of my family on my mum’s side lives there,” Jess said.
“The prospect of competing in Paris in front of family and friends who wouldn’t normally see me compete would be so special.
“I’m excited to see the city come to life and to see sport all across the city and France, in front of some incredible landmarks – it will be an amazing show.
“It’s very special and super important to reach gender balance. In our sport, that moment in Tokyo was historic and I’m so proud to have been a part of that. Women first competed in the Olympics in 1900 so it’s about time we hit that 50/50 mark.
“I can’t quite believe it’s been one year since Tokyo, time is flying! The goal is to take each competition as it comes - this week we have the World Championships, followed by the rest of the World Cup series and next year we begin the Olympic qualifying period.
"I’m always motivated and inspired to keep finding ways to improve and challenge myself.”
Rower Lucy Stephan from Nhill in regional Victoria claimed a historic gold medal in the women’s four in Tokyo, on an incredible morning featuring two gold and two bronze medal winning boats from the Australian rowers.
“Wow, we won Olympic gold less than a year ago and already Paris is two years away, that’s so exciting,” Lucy said.
“We know how quickly two years can come up, we’ve got our World Championships this year, then trying to qualify the boats for Paris at next year’s World Championships.
“The Tokyo Games were so special for the rowers and the whole Australian team. Going into Paris as reigning champions will be different – but it’s all about how we can make the boat go faster.
“The races will keep getting faster, so we need to keep building, keep finding more speed no matter what boat we’re in. Looking ahead to Paris I want to make sure I can do everything in the coming years to be able to put in an amazing performance, and having friends and family able to be there to cheer us on is a really encouraging thought.”
Twenty-eight-year-old 800m runner Peter Bol captivated Australians with his Tokyo 2020 experience, as the Sudanese-born Australian achieved our best Olympic result in the event since 1968, finishing fourth in the Olympic final.
“The Olympics is such a big deal, all over the world but in particular I feel it in Australia - the reception the Tokyo Olympics got in Australia last year was amazing,” Peter said.
“It was just an incredible energy, I loved it.
“When I think of Paris 2024 I think of the crowds! It was one thing we missed of course in Tokyo but I know there will be incredible crowds in Paris, that will be the best.
“The Olympics is the ultimate test. Between now and Paris I’ll focus on maintaining my consistency; it's a great challenge in our sport to reach the top levels and a big challenge too to continue competing at those levels.
“I'd like to challenge for and win medals! That is a strong motivation in the last two years.”
