COLOGNE, Germany – The Olympic Games Paris 2024 kicks with a four-hour-long opening ceremony this evening, so here are 10 fun facts you might not know about the world’s greatest sporting event.
#1 Paris first hosted the games in 1900, and most recently in 1924. Back then, the games included 126 events with over 3,000 athletes from 44 countries competing. Fast forward 100 years, and now 10,500 athletes from 206 countries will compete in 329 events.
#2 Tonight’s opening ceremony will be the first not to be held in a stadium. That’s because the athletes will parade along the River Seine in boats in front of 300,000 spectators. Oh, and the River Seine will also host the marathon swimming event and the swimming leg of the triathlon.
#3 The 2024 Olympics will be the most diverse ever, with 5,250 men and 5,250 women, participating in the same number of sports and events.
#4 In a first for the Olympics, breakdancing will feature in this summer’s games with 16 boys and 16 girls facing off in solo battles.
#5 There are 35 Olympic venues at Paris 2024, and one in the French territory of Tahiti which will host the surfing competition.
#6 The official mascot for the Paris Olympics is the Olympic Phryge which is a hat that was traditionally worn by French revolutionaries.
#7 This year’s Olympic medals contain elements of iron from the original Eiffel Tower. The metal was sourced from parts of the tower that were removed during renovation work.
#8 As the birthplace of the Olympics, Greece will lead out the Parade of Nations during tonight’s ceremony. In a first for Germany, a black athlete – basketball star Dennis Schröder – will be one of the flagbearers.
#9 For the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Olympic Torch Relay started three months ago in Greece, covering 68 stages in total.
#10 Around 1.5 billion people from around the world are expected to tune into television broadcasts of the opening ceremony.
