2024 Summer Olympics facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Games of the XXXIII Olympiad

Emblem of the 2024 Summer Olympics
Host city	Paris, France
Motto	Games wide open (French: Ouvrons grand les Jeux)
Athletes	10,500 (quota limit)
Events	329 in 32 sports
Opening	26 July 2024
Closing	11 August 2024
Stadium	Jardins du Trocadéro and the Seine (opening ceremony) Stade de France (athletics competition, closing ceremony)
Summer
← Tokyo 2020 Los Angeles 2028 →
Winter
← Beijing 2022 Milano-Cortina 2026 →

The 2024 Summer Olympics (French: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (French: Jeux de la XXXIII^e Olympiade) and commonly known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 26 July to 11 August 2024 in France, with Paris as the main host city and 16 other cities spread across European France, plus one subsite in Tahiti — an island within the French overseas country and overseas collectivity of French Polynesia.

Paris was awarded the Games at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on 13 September 2017. After multiple withdrawals that left only Paris and Los Angeles in contention, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a process to concurrently award the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics to the two cities. Having previously hosted in 1900 and 1924, Paris will become the second city, after London (who were the hosts in 1908, 1948 and 2012) to host the Summer Olympics three times. Paris 2024 will mark the centenary of Paris 1924, and these Olympic Games will be the sixth hosted by France (three in summer and three in winter), and the first French Olympics since the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville. Following Paris 2024, the Summer Games will return to the traditional four-year Olympiad cycle, as the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo was delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paris 2024 will feature the debut of breakdancing as an Olympic event, and it will be the final Olympic Games held during the presidency of IOC President Thomas Bach. The Games will be the first to feature an identical number of athletes between men and women. The Games are expected to cost €8.3 billion.

Bidding process

The five candidate cities were Paris, Hamburg, Budapest, Rome, and Los Angeles. The bidding process was slowed by withdrawals, political uncertainty and deterring costs. Hamburg withdrew its bid on 29 November 2015 after holding a referendum. Rome withdrew on 21 September 2016, citing fiscal difficulties. Budapest withdrew on 22 February 2017, after a petition against the bid collected more signatures than necessary for a referendum.

Following these withdrawals, the IOC Executive Board met on 9 June 2017 in Lausanne, Switzerland, to discuss the 2024 and 2028 bid processes. The International Olympic Committee formally proposed electing the 2024 and 2028 Olympic host cities at the same time in 2017, a proposal which an Extraordinary IOC Session approved on 11 July 2017 in Lausanne. The IOC set up a process whereby the LA 2024 and Paris 2024 bid committees met with the IOC to discuss which city would host the Games in 2024 and 2028, and whether it was possible to select the host cities for both at the same time.

Following the decision to award the two games simultaneously, Paris was understood to be the preferred host for 2024. On 31 July 2017, the IOC announced Los Angeles as the sole candidate for 2028, enabling Paris to be confirmed as host for 2024. Both decisions were ratified at the 131st IOC Session on 13 September 2017.

Host city election

Paris was elected as the host city on 13 September 2017 at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru. The two French IOC members, Guy Drut and Tony Estanguet, were ineligible to vote under the rules of the Olympic Charter.

2024 Summer Olympics
bidding results

City	Nation	Votes
Paris	France	Unanimous

Development and preparations

Venues

Most of the Olympic events will be held in the city of Paris and its metropolitan region, including the neighbouring cities of Saint-Denis, Le Bourget, Nanterre, Versailles, and Vaires-sur-Marne.

The handball tournaments will be held in Lille, which is 225 km (140 mi) from the host city; the sailing and some football games will be held in the Mediterranean city of Marseille, which is 777 km (483 mi) from the host city; meanwhile, the surfing events are expected to be held in Teahupo'o village in the overseas territory of French Polynesia, which is 15,716 km (9,765 mi) from the host city. Football will also be hosted in another five cities, which are Bordeaux, Décines-Charpieu (Lyon), Nantes, Nice and Saint-Étienne, some of which are home to Ligue 1 clubs.

Grand Paris zone

Stade de France

Paris Aquatic Centre

Porte de La Chapelle Arena

Paris Centre zone

Champ de Mars

Grand Palais

Les Invalides

Parc des Princes

Stade Roland Garros

Versailles zone

Le Golf National

Vélodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

Château de Versailles

Vaires-Torcy Nautical Centre

Outlying venues

Parc Olympique Lyonnais

Marseille

Non-competitive

Medals

Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet unveiled the Olympic and Paralympic medals for the Games in February 2024, which on the obverse featured embedded hexagon-shaped tokens of scrap iron that had been taken from the original construction of the Eiffel Tower, with the Games logo engraved into it. Approximately 5,084 medals would be produced by the French mint Monnaie de Paris, and were designed by Chaumet, a luxury jewellery firm based in Paris.

The reverse of the medals features Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, inside the Panathenaic Stadium which hosted the first modern Olympics in 1896. Parthenon and the Eiffel Tower can also be seen in the background on both sides of the medal. Each medal weighs 455–529 g (16–19 oz), has a diameter of 85 mm (3.3 in) and is 9.2 mm (0.36 in) thick. The gold medals are made with 98.8 percent silver and 1.13 percent gold, while the bronze medals are made up with copper, zinc, and tin.

Security

France reached an agreement with Europol and the UK Home Office to help strengthen security and "facilitate operational information exchange" and "international law enforcement cooperation" during the Games. Within the agreements, it was planned to deploy more drones and sea barriers to prevent small boats from crossing the channel illegally. The British Army will also be deploying Starstreak surface-to-air missile units for air security. Police in Paris held inspections and rehearsals within their bomb disposal unit before the Games, similar to their preparations for the 2023 Rugby World Cup at the Stade de France.

As a part of Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani visit to France, several agreements were signed between two nations to enhance security for the Olympics. In preparation for the significant security demands and counterterrorist measures, Poland has pledged to contribute security troops, including sniffer dog handlers, to support international efforts aimed at ensuring the safety of the Games. The Qatari Minister of Interior and Commander of Lekhwiya convened a meeting on 3 April 2024 ahead of the Olympics, with officials and security leaders, including Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour Al Thani to discuss security operations, while US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel to modernize the command structure of the security alliance with Japan.

Security concerns impacted the announced plans for the opening ceremony to take place as a public event along the Seine; the expected attendance was reduced by half from an estimated 600,000 to 300,000, with plans for free viewing locations now being by invitation only. In April 2024, after Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Crocus City Hall attack in March, and made several threats against the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, French president Emmanuel Macron indicated that the opening ceremony could be scaled back or re-located if necessary.

Volunteers

The Paris 2024 volunteer platform for the Olympic and Paralympic Games was opened to the public in March 2023. There were expected to be 45,000 volunteers recruited worldwide for the Games. Following the end of registration on 3 May 2023, over 300,000 applications had been submitted to the Paris Organizing Committee, exceeding the number of applicants for the previous two Olympics. Applicants were notified of the outcome of their application between September and December 2023. Over 800 applicants were excluded over security fears, among which 15 were flagged with Fiche S.

The Games

Opening ceremony

A viewing party for the 2020 Summer Olympics at Place du Trocadéro, which will host the official protocol for the opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony is scheduled to begin on 26 July 2024 at 19:30 (CEST, GMT+2). The ceremony is tentatively scheduled to take place outside a traditional stadium setting for the first time, with plans for a parade of nations conducted as a boat parade along the Seine from Pont d'Austerlitz to Pont d'Iéna, and the official protocol taking place at Place du Trocadéro in a temporary "mini-stadium". The 6-kilometre (3.7-mile) parade route would feature cultural presentations and views of Paris landmarks. The ceremonies of the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics will be directed by Thomas Jolly.

Organisers promoted that the ceremony would be the most "spectacular and accessible opening ceremony in Olympic history", with COJOP2024 president Tony Estanguet stating that it would be free to attend, and estimating that it could attract as many as 600,000 spectators—exemplifying an overall goal for Paris 2024 to be a "people's Olympics". There will be 100,000 ticketed spectators at viewing spots on the lower banks of the Seine, and approximately 200,000 spectators at free viewing spots on the upper banks (in addition to being visible from other public locations and buildings). In March 2024, due to security concerns, the French government ordered that access to the upper bank locations be by invitation only, and in April 2024, President Macron stated that the ceremony could be scaled back or be held in a conventional manner at Stade de France, if necessary.

Sports

The programme of the 2024 Summer Olympics will feature 329 events in 32 sports, including the 28 "core" Olympic sports contested in 2016 and 2020, and four optional sports that were proposed by the Paris Organising Committee: breaking will make its Olympic debut as an optional sport, while skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing will return from 2020. Four events have been dropped from weightlifting. In canoeing, two sprint events have been replaced with two slalom events, keeping the overall total at 16. In sport climbing, the previous "combined" event has been split up to create the separate events of "speed climbing" and "boulder-and-lead" for each gender.

In February 2023, USA Boxing announced its decision to boycott the 2023 World Championships (organized by the International Boxing Association) where Russian and Belarusian athletes would compete with no restrictions, also accusing the IBA of attempting to sabotage the IOC-approved qualification pathway for the 2024 Summer Olympics: Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Canada later joined the U.S.

New and optional sports

When Paris was bidding for the Games in August 2017, the Paris Organising Committee announced that it would hold talks with the IOC and professional esports organisations about the possibility of introducing competitive events in 2024. In July 2018, the IOC confirmed that it would not consider esports for the 2024 Olympics. At the 134th IOC Session in June 2019, the IOC approved the Paris Organising Committee's proposed optional sports of breaking (breakdance), along with skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing—three sports that debuted at the then-upcoming 2020 Summer Olympics.

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremonies are scheduled to be held at Stade de France on 11 August 2024.

Participating National Olympic Committees

The following is a list of National Olympic Committees who have qualified at least one athlete for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the IOC banned Russia and Belarus from the games for violating the Olympic Truce. Russian and Belarusian athletes may instead compete as "Individual Neutral Athletes" (AIN), as long as they did not "actively" support the war and therefore they should not carry the flag of the countries they are going to represent. Individual neutral athletes must be approved by each sport's international federation, but an international federation has the discretion not to approve any athletes in their sport. As individual athletes, AIN will not be considered a delegation during the opening ceremony or on official medal tables.

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

As of 1 May  2024 (2024 -05-01)^[update]

Ranking	NOC	Athletes
1	United States	514
2	France	495
3	Australia	385
4	Japan	327
5	Germany	320
6	China	319
7	Spain	278
8	Great Britain	270
9	Italy	227
10	Canada	217
11	Brazil	186
12	Netherlands	179
12	New Zealand	179
14	Egypt	138
15	Poland	132
16	Hungary	128
17	South Korea	112
18	Belgium	110
19	Argentina	104
20	South Africa	98
21	Ireland	97
22	Ukraine	89
23	Denmark	85
23	Sweden	85
25	Romania	83
26	Serbia	82
27	Mexico	76
27	Norway	76
29	India	73
30	Switzerland	70
31	Turkey	67
32	Kenya	65
33	Colombia	61
33	Israel	61
35	Greece	59
35	Slovenia	59
37	Nigeria	56
38	Croatia	55
38	Uzbekistan	55
40	Czech Republic	52
41	Kazakhstan	49
42	Morocco	46
43	Portugal	45
44	Austria	43
44	Dominican Republic	43
46	Individual Neutral Athletes	40
46	Thailand	40
48	Chinese Taipei	39
49	Cuba	38
49	Jamaica	38
51	Algeria	33
52	Hong Kong	32
52	Iran	32
52	Lithuania	32
55	Bulgaria	31
56	Ethiopia	30
57	Fiji	28
58	Ecuador	26
59	Venezuela	25
60	Chile	24
60	Tunisia	24
62	Azerbaijan	23
62	Finland	23
64	Puerto Rico	22
65	Indonesia	21
65	Peru	21
67	Angola	20
67	Paraguay	20
67	Zambia	20
70	Uruguay	19
71	Malaysia	18
71	Mali	18
71	Samoa	18
74	Slovakia	17
74	Uganda	17
76	Singapore	15
77	Mongolia	14
78	Estonia	13
78	Montenegro	13
80	Philippines	12
80	South Sudan	12
82	Armenia	11
82	Georgia	11
82	Guatemala	11
82	North Korea	11
86	Bahrain	10
86	Latvia	10
86	Moldova	10
86	Vietnam	10
90	Kyrgyzstan	9
91	Eritrea	8
91	Ivory Coast	8
93	Mauritius	7
93	Qatar	7
95	Cyprus	6
95	Jordan	6
95	Luxembourg	6
98	Botswana	5
98	Burkina Faso	5
98	Senegal	5
98	United Arab Emirates	5
102	Pakistan	4
102	Panama	4
102	Rwanda	4
102	Saudi Arabia	4
102	Suriname	4
102	Tajikistan	4
102	Trinidad and Tobago	4
102	Tanzania	4
110	Aruba	3
110	Bahamas	3
110	Costa Rica	3
110	El Salvador	3
110	Kuwait	3
110	Niger	3
110	Refugee Olympic Team	3
117	Albania	2
117	Bermuda	2
117	Cayman Islands	2
117	Chad	2
117	The Gambia	2
117	Grenada	2
117	Guam	2
117	Guinea-Bissau	2
117	Lebanon	2
117	Lesotho	2
117	Liberia	2
117	Mozambique	2
117	Namibia	2
117	Papua New Guinea	2
117	Palestine	2
117	Saint Lucia	2
117	Syria	2
117	Virgin Islands	2
117	Zimbabwe	2
136	Andorra	1
136	Antigua and Barbuda	1
136	Barbados	1
136	Bolivia	1
136	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1
136	British Virgin Islands	1
136	Cameroon	1
136	Cook Islands	1
136	Democratic Republic of the Congo	1
136	Djibouti	1
136	Dominica	1
136	Gabon	1
136	Honduras	1
136	Iceland	1
136	Iraq	1
136	Kosovo	1
136	Libya	1
136	Madagascar	1
136	Marshall Islands	1
136	Monaco	1
136	Myanmar	1
136	Nicaragua	1
136	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1
136	San Marino	1
136	Sri Lanka	1
136	Togo	1
136	Turkmenistan	1

Calendar

The following schedule is correct as of the latest schedule released in March 2024. The exact schedule can change up until the end of the games.

All times and dates use Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

OC

Opening ceremony

●

Event competitions

1

Gold medal events

CC

Closing ceremony

July/August 2024		July								August											Events
		24th Wed	25th Thu	26th Fri	27th Sat	28th Sun	29th Mon	30th Tue	31st Wed	1st Thu	2nd Fri	3rd Sat	4th Sun	5th Mon	6th Tue	7th Wed	8th Thu	9th Fri	10th Sat	11th Sun
Ceremonies				OC																CC	N/A
Aquatics	Artistic swimming													●	●	1		●	1		2
	Diving				1		1		1		1			●	1	●	1	1	1		8
	Marathon swimming																1	1			2
	Swimming				4	3	5	3	5	4	3	4	4								35
	Water polo				●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	1	2
Archery			●			1	1	●	●	●	1	1	1								5
Athletics										2	1	5	3	4	5	5	5	8	9	1	48
Badminton					●	●	●	●	●	●	1	1	1	2							5
Basketball	Basketball				●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●		●	●	●	●	1	1	2
	3×3 Basketball							●	●	●	●	●	●	2							2
Boxing					●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●		1	2	2	4	4		13
Breaking																		1	1		2
Canoeing	Slalom				●	1	1	●	1	1	●	●	●	2							6
	Sprint														●	●	3	4	3		10
Cycling	Road cycling				2							1	1								4
	Track cycling													1	1	2	2	2	1	3	12
	BMX							●	2	●	2										4
	Mountain biking					1	1														2
Equestrian
	Dressage							●	●			1	1								2
	Eventing				●	●	2														2
	Jumping									●	1			●	1						2
Fencing					2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1								12
Field hockey					●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	1			2
Football		●	●		●	●		●	●		●	●		●	●		●	1	1		2
Golf										●	●	●	1			●	●	●	1		2
Gymnastics	Artistic				●	●	1	1	1	1		3	3	4							14
	Rhythmic																●	1	1		2
	Trampoline										2										2
Handball			●		●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●		●	●	●	●	1	1	2
Judo					2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1									15
Modern pentathlon																	●	●	1	1	2
Rowing					●	●	●	●	2	4	4	4									14
Rugby sevens		●	●		1	●	●	1													2
Sailing						●	●	●	●	2	2	●	●	●	2	2	2				10
Shooting					1	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	1	2							15
Skateboarding					1	1									1	1					4
Sport climbing														●	●	1	1	1	1		4
Surfing					●	●	●	●	2												2
Table tennis					●	●	●	1	●	●	●	1	1	●	●	●	●	1	1		5
Taekwondo																2	2	2	2		8
Tennis					●	●	●	●	●	●	1	2	2								5
Triathlon								1	1					1							3
Volleyball	Beach volleyball				●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	1		2
	Volleyball				●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	1	2
Weightlifting																2	2	2	3	1	10
Wrestling														●	3	3	3	3	3	3	18
Daily medal events					14	13	18	12	19	18	23	27	20	18	15	21	25	34	39	13	329
Cumulative total					14	27	45	57	76	94	117	144	164	182	197	218	243	277	316	329
July/August 2024
		24th Wed	25th Thu	26th Fri	27th Sat	28th Sun	29th Mon	30th Tue	31st Wed	1st Thu	2nd Fri	3rd Sat	4th Sun	5th Mon	6th Tue	7th Wed	8th Thu	9th Fri	10th Sat	11th Sun	Total events
		July								August

Marketing

Emblem

The emblem for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics was unveiled on 21 October 2019 at the Grand Rex. Inspired by Art Deco, it is a representation of Marianne, the national personification of France, with a flame formed in negative space by her hair. The emblem also resembles a gold medal. Tony Estanguet explained that the emblem symbolised "the power and the magic of the Games", and the Games being "for people". The use of a female figure also serves as an homage to the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, which were the first to allow women to participate. The emblem was designed by the French designer Sylvain Boyer with the French design agency Royalties.

The emblem for Paris 2024 was considered the biggest new logo release of 2019 by many design magazines. An Opinion Way survey shows that 83 per cent of French people say they like the new Paris 2024 Games emblem. Approval ratings were high, with 82 per cent of those surveyed finding it aesthetically appealing and 78 per cent finding it to be creative. It was met with some mockery on social media, one user commenting that the logo "would be better suited to a dating site or a hair salon".

For the first time, the 2024 Summer Paralympics is sharing the same emblem as its corresponding Olympics, with no difference, reflecting a shared "ambition" between both events.

Mascots

The Olympic Phryge (left), the official mascot of the 2024 Summer Olympics, and the Paralympic Phryge (right), the official mascot of the 2024 Summer Paralympics. Note that the lighter variant of the French flag is being used.

On 14 November 2022, The Phryges were unveiled as the mascots of the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics; they are a pair of anthropomorphic Phrygian caps, a historic French symbol of freedom and liberty. Marianne is commonly depicted wearing the Phrygian cap, including in the Eugène Delacroix painting, Liberty Leading the People. The two mascots share a motto of "Alone we go faster, but together we go further".

Poster

The Olympic poster for these games was revealed on 4 March 2024. Designed by Uga Gattoni, the poster uses a diptych design, with one half representing the Olympics and the other half representing the Paralympics. For the first time, the Olympic poster and Paralympic poster were designed together, as each one can work independently as halves, or be combined into one poster all together. The posters took 2,000 hours, across six months to complete.

Corporate sponsorship

Belgian beverage company AB InBev became the first Worldwide Olympic Partner during the Games.

Broadcasting rights

In France, domestic rights to the 2024 Summer Olympics are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (formerly Discovery Inc.) via Eurosport, with free-to-air coverage sublicensed to the country's public broadcaster France Télévisions.

See also

In Spanish: Juegos Olímpicos de París 2024 para niños

• 2028 Summer Olympics
• 2032 Summer Olympics
• NBC Olympic Broadcasts