Paris Olympics 2024: Your ultimate guide

The 2024 Olympics get underway in Paris, France in less than two weeks time. It is the third time the French capital has hosted the summer Games, the first being in 1900 and the second in 1924, exactly 100 years ago.

For the first time, this year’s Olympics will have an equal number of male and female athletes, and the same number of events for all.

You can take a look at the full day-by-day schedule here. Telegraph Sport has also published a guide to the British athletes competing at this summer’s Games, plus Team GB’s kit for Paris.

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Do you plan to attend the Olympics in Paris this summer? Let us know what you are most excited for in the comments section below.

When does the 2024 Olympics start and end?

The 33rd Summer Olympic Games will run from Friday, July 26, until Sunday, August 11 in Paris.

The Paris Olympics will end on August 11, with the traditional closing ceremony. There will also be 13 gold medals up for grabs on the final day.

When is the Paris Olympics opening ceremony?

As is tradition, the Paris Olympics opening ceremony will take place on Friday, July 26. Several events actually start before the opening ceremony: archery, football, rugby sevens and handball.

How to watch the Olympics

There are several ways of watching the Olympics. Eurosport is the main European rights holder for broadcasting the Olympics this year although the BBC will still be covering the big moments across its channels. You can stream the Olympics online on the Eurosport player, BBC iPlayer app and on the BBC website. Alternatively Telegraph Sport will be running live blogs on all the key sporting events.

Team GB athletes

Team GB have announced a 327-strong travelling party of athletes for Paris 2024, the ninth-largest team for the Games. For the second successive Olympics, women (174) will outnumber men (153) on the British team.

The full list of those Team GB selected athletes can be found here.

Predicted Olympics medal table

The United States are expected to top the Olympics medal table again, with Great Britain targeting a record number of podiums

Read more details on Team GB’s predicted medal performance in Paris.

Can Russia compete?

Russian (and Belarusian) athlete cannot compete under their national flag or for their national Olympic committee. Instead any athletes from the two countries must compete as an individual neutral athlete, and only provided they meet eligibility criteria imposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

What are the Team GB Paris kits?

Team GB have played it safe with their Adidas kits for Paris. After a backlash over the alternative ‘Union Jack’ merchandise, British athletes will strike a much more conservative tone at the Games, sticking with the traditional colours of red, white and blue. Read more here.

Paris Olympics flame

The torch for the Paris 2024 Olympics was lit in ancient Olympia, in a traditional ceremony to mark the final stretch of the countdown to the summer Games.

The flame was officially handed over to Paris Games organisers in Athens’s Panathenaic stadium, site of the first modern Games in 1896, on April 26 after an 11-day relay across Greece. It departed the next day for France on board a three-masted ship, the ‘Belem’.

The French torch relay lasts 68 days and will end in Paris with the lighting of the Olympic flame on July 26, signifying the start of the Olympics.

How many sports are there in the 2024 Olympics?

There will be 32 different sports contested at the Paris Olympics. This includes 28 mandatory ‘core’ sports plus a maximum of six optional sports, decided by the hosts.

Paris opted for breakdancing (breaking), which will be making its Olympic debut, along with skateboarding, sporting climbing and surfing. The latter three made their debuts at Tokyo 2020.

More than 10,000 athletes from 206 nations are expected to take part in 329 events, across 45 sports disciplines.

Full list of Paris Olympics venues

Paris Area

Bercy Arena – Artistic gymnastics and trampoline, basketball
Champ de Mars – Judo, wrestling
Eiffel Tower Stadium – Beach volleyball
Grand Palais  – Fencing, taekwondo
Hotel de Ville – Athletics (marathon)
Invalides – Archery, athletics, cycling road
La Concorde – 3×3 basketball, breaking, BMX freestyle, skateboarding
Parc des Princes – Football
Pont Alexandre III – Road cycling, marathon swimming, triathlon
Porte de la Chapelle Arena – Badminton, rhythmic gymnastics
Stade Roland Garros – Boxing, tennis
South Paris Arena – Handball, table tennis, volleyball, weightlifting
Trocadero – Athletics, road cycling

Ile-de-France Area

Aquatics Centre – Artistic swimming, diving, water polo
Chateau de Versailles  – Equestrian, modern pentathlon
Elancourt Hill – Mountain bike cycling
Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue – Shooting, sport climbing
Golf National – Golf
North Paris Arena – Boxing, modern pentathlon
Paris La Defense Arena – Swimming, water polo
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines BMX Stadium – BMX racing
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome – Track cycling
Stade de France – Opening and closing ceremonies, rugby and athletics
Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium – Athletics, rugby sevens
Yves-du-Manoir – Hockey

Throughout France

Bordeaux Stadium – Football
Chateauroux Shooting Centre – Shooting
Geoffrey-Guichard Stadium – Football
La Beaujoire Stadium – Football
Lyon Stadium – Football 
Marseille Marina – Sailing 
Marseille Stadium – Football
Nice Stadium – Football
Pierre Mauroy Stadium – Basketball, handball
Teahupo’o, Tahiti – Surfing

Olympic tickets: How to get them and how much they cost

There are a total of 10 million tickets for the Games, with British supporters set to be the largest fanbase outside of the home nation.

“Team GB is obviously coming in force with great expectation,” said Etienne Thobois, the chief executive of the Paris 2024 organisers. “We are more than happy to see the Brits coming to cheer for the athletes of the world. We are looking forward to welcoming you guys in Paris. It’s very close – less than three hours away [by Eurostar] and London 2012 is still in the memories of everyone. It was an inspiring Games for us too. Britain is the first market by far outside of France.”

Tickets for the most popular Olympic events, including swimming and gymnastics, are sold out with only availability through special ‘hospitality packages’. Remaining opening ceremony tickets are available for up to €2,700 (£2,300).

For ticket information visit the official website.

What are the Olympic medals made of?

This summer’s Olympics will mark 100 years since the last Games were hosted in Paris. To celebrate the return of the Games to France, each Olympic medal is embellished with an original iron piece of the Eiffel Tower. They were cut from girders and other bits that were swapped out of the Eiffel Tower during renovations, and then prepared for the medals by being stripped of paint, polished and then varnished.

The iron pieces’ hexagonal form represents the country, with the French sometimes referring to their country as ‘L’Hexagone’ due to its geographical shape.

The Eiffel Tower has also inspired the unique design of the ribbons for the medals, which each adorned with the lattice work of the famous landmark.

Paris jewelry house Chaumet designed the medals. Around the iron pieces of the Eiffel Tower are disks of gold, silver or bronze. The shine of the medals comes from the crinkled effect on the disks. Games organisers say the metal is recycled, not newly minted.

Meanwhile, those that are lucky enough to win a gold medal in athletics will also receive $50,000 (£39,380) from World Athletics, the first sport to offer prize money for an Olympic title.

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