500 days from the Paris 2024 Olympics: unprecedented openness, gender equality and what will happen to Russian athletes

After what happened in Tokyo, the Olympic world hopes the next edition of the Summer Olympics will be a rebirth for the movement after going through the world’s biggest multi-disciplinary sporting event in the midst of a pandemic. For this they lack 500 days. It is that on July 26 of next year the capital of France will host an unforgettable sporting, social and cultural spectacle.

Paris 2024 is set to be the best Games in history. This phrase recurs every four years in the prelude to a new edition. The reason? Advances in technology, new measures to bridge the historic gap between male and female athletes, and the idea of ​​an increasingly sustainable event where less money is spent, are strengths of the International Olympic Committee when it comes to selecting candidates.

An unprecedented opening ceremony

For the first time in the history of the old Olympics, the Parisian organization has decided to open the inauguration of a classic stadium. Instead of choosing the Stade de France, located at St Denis -will be the headquarters of athletics-, the ceremony will take place over six kilometers along the Seine. Yes, it is planned more than 160 boats parade on the waters with the delegations on a route that goes from the Pont d’Austerlitz to the Trocadero, passing many famous Parisian monuments, bridges and cultural institutions such as Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Louvre and even the iconic Eiffel Tower.

In this way, access to the inauguration will be free for the public, who will be able to follow the route of the boats and see the parade of the countries that will be the protagonists of the Games. Pending confirmation of the VIP seats – tickets will be on sale – the bank, as well as viewpoints at various places along the route, will bring together some 600,000 spectators at an emblematic ceremony.

It should be remembered that during the third edition of the Youth Olympic Games, which took place in Buenos Aires in 2018, the Obelisk was the center of a spectacle that amazed the Olympic world and served as a support to the French to take this decision. .to bring the inauguration to the people, an imprint that the Argentine organizers had.

“The organization of the opening ceremony along the Seine, an emblematic river in the heart of the city, is perfectly in line with the ambition of Paris 2024 to reinvent the model of the Games by opening up participation to as many people as possible. “said the IOC President Thomas Bach on the wait for July 26 next year. Start time? At 8:24 p.m. in Paris, of course.

In addition to the march of the athletes, majestic shows are expected around an action that promises to be unprecedented in terms of the deployment and the route.

Another historic milestone: there will be gender equality among athletes

As will happen with the ceremony that will open the Olympic Games, Paris 2024 will mark a before and after with respect to a first request by Bach and the rest of the members of the International Olympic Committee. For the first time at a senior Olympics, there will be the same number of male and female athletes.

will be 10,500 athletes those who will participate in the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad which will end on August 11. In this way, there will be 5,250 male athletes and 5,250 female athletesa fact that until now had never been achieved in the planning of the biggest sporting event in the world.

In the last edition of the Tokyo Olympics, which was postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic that affected the world, the female participation percentage was 48.8%, the highest in history. It must be remembered that, as will happen with the inauguration, the only precedent in the history of the Olympic Games where there was gender parity in an event was five years ago during the YOG (Youth Olympic Games ) that took place in the Argentine capital. .

At Buenos Aires 2018, among the more than four thousand participants, there were 50% men and 50% women during the competition which featured 22 mixed events, plus educational and cultural activities, and exhibition sports and of initiation that took place during the Olympic Games. Games for young people aged 14 to 18.

“Phryge”, the mascots of the Olympic and Paralympic Games

“We have chosen an ideal rather than an animal.” With these words, Tony Estanguet, director of the organizing committee, presented the mascots of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“We chose it because it is a very strong symbol of the French Republic. For people, it is a well-known object and a symbol of freedom; something the mascots will represent all over the world. The fact that the Paralympic mascot has a visible disability also sends a strong message: to promote inclusion,” added the three-time Olympic canoe-kayak champion, now in charge of organizing the third Olympic edition, including the capital French is the theatre.

What are “Phrygians”? The Little Phrygian Caps represent a strong symbol of freedom, inclusion and people’s ability to support important and meaningful causes. They are associated with the colors blue, white and red, and feature the golden Paris 2024 logo on their chest. They also have playful and expressive eyes, created by a cockade of France, a badge made up of ribbons which is the French national adornment.

As has been the case since the appearance of Shuss – a red, white and blue mascot on skis – at the Winter Olympics in Grenoble 1968, these characters are decisive in the overall communication of the Games. Whether introducing a milestone or touring the country, Olympic or Paralympic mascots serve to publicize the event like almost no other human communicator.

“According to our story, the Phrygian caps have been around for thousands of years and have been present at several key moments in the history of France,” explained Julie Matikhine, director of the Paris 2024 brand.

“Now they are back for this great event in France to lead the mission of revolution through sport. The objective is to show that sport can change everything in society. The goal is to show that sport and its values ​​can do great things. It’s all about brotherhood and solidarity, and that helps society grow,” he added.

The image of Paris 2024: renewed pictograms and a look and feel in tune with the city

The visual identity of the Olympics embodies French elegance, a bold aesthetic and the rich symbolism of cobbled streets found in French urban landscapes, according to the organizing committee.

The design includes the colors blue, red, green and purple to represent “the richness and diversity” that can be found in French territory. But besides that, 62 pictograms were createdthe logo that each of the disciplines must recognize during the multidisciplinary event.

They will serve as a “badge of honor” and will represent, not only a sporting discipline, but “a family, a sense of pride, values ​​and a community”, explained the organization about its creation.

Within this new identity, Paris 2024 has chosen four different objectives to reflect the overall message of the Olympic Games: celebrate (on the occasion of the celebration of the hosting of the sporting event), convey (reflects the status of City of Light or fashion capital), streamline (both Games, Olympic and Paralympic, will share the design except for branding changes) and personalize (an event of all and for all, where all of France comes together to celebrate them).

What will happen with Russia’s presence at Paris 2024?

The end of the story is not yet written. This was noticed by Bach himself in a dialogue with the press during his visit to Central America, in particular Cuba. “I want to be very clear: the time has not yet come to talk about the Paris Olympics. It’s too early”said the IOC President, who at the same time stressed that there is still room to define what will happen to the athletes of the country which, under the order of Vladimir Putin, decided to invade the Ukraine a little over a year ago.

“It is too early to talk about any boycott,” added the former Olympic champion fencer and who is today the first leader of the movement on the planet. In this sense, Bach clarified that the entity is carrying out consultations with the various National Olympic Committees and sports federations to “consider everything” on the situation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions and the Olympic qualifiers of the previous months in Paris 2024. .

The Russian Olympic Committee is waiting to see what will happen to its athletes. The head of the entity since 2018, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, has called for there to be full participation of his athletes in the French capital within about a year and a half.

“The Russians must participate in exactly the same conditions as the other athletes. Any additional conditions or criteria will not be welcome, especially those with a political overtone, which are completely unacceptable to the Olympic movement,” Pozdnyakov said.

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