With 100 days to go, what will the Paris Summer Games look like?

Record ID: 1819246

  • Title: With 100 days to go, what will the Paris Summer Games look like?
  • Date: 17th April 2024
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (FILE - JANUARY 2024) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF PARIS LA DEFENSE ARENA VARIOUS OF CURRENT INTERIOR OF LA DEFENSE ARENA, SET TO BE TURNED INTO SWIMMING VENUE IN MAY 2024
  • Embargoed: 1st May 2024 09:00
  • Keywords: Chateauroux Marseille Olympics Paralympics Paris 2024 Sport Summer Games Tahiti Venues
  • Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Europe,Olympics,Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA014274504042024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: With the countdown to the Paris 2024 Summer Games just 100 days to go, Olympic venues in Paris, but also in other parts of France and Tahiti, are getting ready to welcome the world's biggest sporting event, held from July 26 to August 11, 2024.
    Paris will have 15 competition venues for the Olympic Games and will host 21 of the 32 Olympic sports in and around some of its most iconic monuments.
    France's capital, home to 2.1 million inhabitants, will also showcase its world-famous architecture, art and history to the millions of people expected to attend events at the Games.
    On the Champ de Mars, a world-famous garden at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, beach volleyball competitions will be held, providing an opportunity to watch the sun set on the monument while athletes compete.
    On the River Seine, thousands of athletes will parade in boats on July 26 for the traditional opening ceremony, while hundreds of thousands of people will line the banks.
    The Seine will also play host to swimmers during triathlon and open water swimming events, the first time it has been deemed safe to swim in since Paris last hosted the Games 100 years ago, in 1924.
    Across the river, built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition, the Grand Palais has been renovated to accommodate the fencing and taekwondo events.
    The Place de la Concorde, at the end of the iconic Champs Elysees, will play host to new events that are designed to encourage more interest from the urban young - BMX freestyle, skateboarding and breakdance.
    The Hotel des Invalides, built in 1687 as a military hospital and retirement home for war veterans, houses museums and monuments to French military history, as well as the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte.
    In 2024, spectators will be able to go there for the archery, cycling and athletics events.
    Not far from Paris, equestrian events will take place in the famous Versailles gardens. The Versailles Palace was the home of King Louis XIV and, until the French Revolution, an epicentre of royalty.
    For sailing events, competition will be held in a brand-new nautical centre in Marseille on the Cote d'Azur.
    In a nod to Frances' overseas territories, the surfing events will take place in Teahupoʻo, a village on the southwest coast of Tahiti, an island in French Polynesia.
    It's a place of pristine natural beauty with some of the world's best-known surf.
    Awarded the Olympics in 2017, Paris has been constructing venues for several years, with all work scheduled for completion in early 2024.
    Such new venues include the Aquatic Centre near Paris, which will host the water polo and diving events.
    Near the Aquatic Centre, the Stade de France, which usually hosts rugby or football world cups, has just received a brand new athletics track.
    The Porte de la Chapelle arena, which will host the badminton and rhythmic gymnastics events, is the only site constructed within the city of Paris.
    The Defense Arena, usually dedicated to concerts, will be completely transformed by May to accommodate an Olympic swimming pool for swimming events.
    The shooting athletes will compete at the shooting centre of Chateauroux, a small town in central France, several hours away from Paris.
    The Olympics will bring together 10,500 Olympic athletes from 206 countries, while just weeks later Paris will play host to 4,400 Paralympic athletes.
    Events will be watched by more 13 million spectators and four billion television viewers across the world, totaling 100,000 hours of TV broadcasting.
    (Production: Yiming Woo, Louise Dalmasso, Ardee Napolitano, Clotaire Achi, Manuel Ausloos, Lucien Libert, Noemie Olive, Antony Paone, Abdul Saboor, Stephane Mahe, Stephanie Lecocq, Sarah Meyssonnier, Pascal Rossignol)
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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