There is still much to discover about the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, beyond the fact that the opening ceremony on the Seine will be the first in history not to be held in a stadium, but on a river.

A total of 94 boats transporting the athletes, around 600,000 spectators on site watching the parade are figures that could not be achieved in a venue such as a stadium.

Along with the opening ceremony, the Seine River will also be the scene of the marathon swimming, a river that has been much discussed by the healthiness of its waters, those doubts were dispelled when the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, swam in them.

More curiosities arise when we enter the Olympic Village, specifically in the apartments containing the cardboard beds, an idea that began in Tokyo – in the 2020 Olympic Games – and has pleased the International Olympic Committee.

AMPUTATING A FINGER TO COMPETE

Matthew Dawson is a player of the Australian field hockey team, before the Games he fractured his ring finger. He had two options, one was to put a nail in his finger and miss the event and the other, which is what he did, was to amputate part of his finger in order to make it to the Olympic Games.

Some of the Paris 2024 events will take place in emblematic sites in Paris. Beach volleyball will be played under the Eiffel Tower, urban sports will be held at La Concorde, fencing and taekwondo at the Grand Palais and the start of the marathon at the Hotel de Ville.

Paris has hosted the games three times, in 1900, in 1924 and this year and joins London as the only cities to have hosted the games three times.

204 nations will be represented and participate in these games, the third most represented Olympic Games in history.

THE TAHITI 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES

The 2024 Olympic Games will also take place in the French territory of Tahiti, where the surfing will be held 15,000km from Paris.

As for the number of athletes, a total of 10,500 athletes will fight for medals. This is the sixth largest participation in the history of the Olympic Games. And the most represented country is the USA with 653 athletes.

Three sports that until now were Olympic will not be this year: karate, baseball and softball, which will give way to breakdancing – baseball and softball will return in Brisbane 2032. Breakdancing is making its debut and may be the beginning of a long Olympic friendship.

Russia and Belarus are the only countries that have been excluded from Paris 2024. However, their athletes will be able to compete under a neutral flag.

As for the logo, the golden color of the composition and the circle evoke a gold medal; the flame, the Olympic flame. The formed face alludes to that of ‘Marianne’, the allegory of the French Republic. The typography of the legend ‘Paris 2024’ evokes Art Deco, one of the artistic movements most closely linked to Paris, and current in 1924, when Paris also hosted the Olympic Games. The insignia is a red Phrygian cap, bonnet phrygien, an element that is closely linked to the history of the host country and is the symbol of freedom.

The central hexagon of the medals that will be awarded to the top three is made of the original iron of the Eiffel Tower. There will be more than 5,000 medals and the sport with the most medals in Paris 2024 will be aquatics, with 49 events in the different disciplines.

THE FORECASTS: USA WINS

According to a forecast made in December by the consulting firm Nielsen, the United States will repeat at the top of the medal table, with athletics and swimming as the keys to its success in winning more than 120 medals. China will be in second place, with Great Britain and France as other powers to watch in this edition.

The first disciplines to get underway were rugby sevens at the Stade de France and soccer in different stadiums across the country. The first sports to award medals, one day after the inauguration, are judo, fencing, skateboarding, road cycling, swimming, ornamental diving, rugby and shooting. The last podiums to be defined, hours before the closing ceremony, are handball, modern pentathlon, marathon, track cycling, water polo and basketball.

France’s sports minister, Amelie Oudea-Castera, confirmed that she will not back down on her decision to ban the use of the hijab. It can only be worn in the Olympic Village.

There will be a total of 36 venues, eight cities and two countries!