The world’s biggest sporting event has begun and the guests of honour are no less than 10,500 athletes. The venue is one that has a historic relationship with the Games.
Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Olympics.
In this edition, the opening ceremony and several of the competitions will take place in some of the most iconic places in “the city of light”.
At BBC Mundo, we’re bringing you some of the new features that will be presented at the event, which runs until August 11.
1. Full gender parity: 50/50
“Paris 2024 will be the first Olympic Games in history to achieve gender parity on the field of play, with equal numbers of female and male athletes taking part in the world’s biggest sporting event.”
This was stated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), whose president, Thomas Bach, described the milestone as “one of the most important moments in women’s history in the Olympic Games and in sport in general.”
The first time women participated in the Games was in Paris in 1900, four years after the first modern Olympics were held in Athens.
On that occasion, says the World Economic Forum, women represented only 2.2% of the total participants.
At the beginning of the 20th century, male dominance of the Games limited female participation to very few sports, such as golf and archery. But everything changed when the Games arrived. Alice Milliat.
Born in 1884 in France, the enthusiastic rower led a campaign to have women’s athletics events included in the Olympics.
It was not easy, but the founding of the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale (FSFI) is considered a key step on the long road to the 50/50 Games. Thank youAlice.
2. An inauguration without a stadium
For the first time in history, the opening ceremony was not held in a stadium. The venue chosen was the River Seine.
For this purpose, the parade of around 200 national delegations was held in boats which carried the athletes along the river from east to west.
The inaugural parade followed a 6-kilometre-long path along the Seine, flanked by stands designed to seat 300,000 people.
It started from the Pont d’Austerlitz, next to the Jardin des Plantes, went around the two islands in the city centre, the Île Saint Louis and the Île de la Cité, and passed under a dozen bridges and footbridges.
The ceremony ended at the famous Trocadéro.
3. A new sport: break dancing
He The origin of breaking or break dancing dates back to the 1970swhen in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, young people from African-American communities showed off their dancing skills with acrobatic movements at parties.
Closely linked to hip hop culture, there are those who see its essence as a competitive ritual.
Hence, the DJ and MC (masters of ceremonies) are essential in the famous battles, in which The young people form a circle and one by one they take turns to do their best routine or choreography in the center..
It was in 2018, at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aireswhere breaking made its Olympic debut.
Now, thanks to her combination of athletics and urban dance, she has secured a place on the big stage in Paris.
The competition will take place in solo battles and the breakers will improvise to the DJ’s tracks, including moves like windmills, six-steps, and popular freezein which they remain frozen.
4. Kayak cross as a new event
Kayak cross is part of slalom canoeing, which made its Olympic debut in Munich in 1972.
In the new event, which will have both male and female categories, athletes will compete not only against the clock, but also against each other.
According to the official Paris 2024 website, kayak cross is unlike any other event in this discipline.
“For a start, Four paddlers compete at the same time. They start the race all together on a ramp placed over the water.”
Once the starting signal is given, they must jump over it and the competition takes place “in a channel with up to a maximum of six gates in favor of the current and two against the current.”
In Paris, there will also be innovations in other traditional sports:
- Athletics: Paris tells him Goodbye to the men’s 50-kilometer walk and gives it the Welcome the mixed relay marathon race, in which athletes will cover the 42.195 kilometres in four alternating stages: the first stage of 12.195 kilometres and three stages of 10 kilometres each.
- Boxing: There will be one new weight category for women and one less for men. In total, there will be six and seven, respectively.
- Candle: There will be two new events: iQFOil – which will replace RS:X in the windsurfing discipline – and kiteboarding, which combines elements of surfing, windsurfing and paragliding.
- Shot: The mixed team event of “skeet” (shooting clay pigeon) will replace the “trap” event.
- VolleyballUnlike previous editions, the teams will be divided into three groups of four and each team will play only three matches in the group stage.
5. Olympics with “100% renewable electricity”
The organisers have pledged to halve the carbon footprint of these Games compared to previous ones.
“This means that Paris 2024 will offer the first Olympic Games aligned with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change”, the IOC notes.
To this end, a series of works were carried out that will allow the Olympic facilities to be powered primarily with electricity from the public grid.
“To supply the places connected to the electricity distribution network, Paris 2024 chooses 100% renewable electricity generated in France, from six wind farms and two solar farms”, the Paris 2024 website states.
The energy company EDF will supply the same amount of electricity to the grid as will be consumed by the Games venues. This approach is the first of its kind in the history of the Games.”.
For example, “matches at the Stade de France will be supplied with electricity directly from a reliable grid, rather than using diesel generators.”
Energy is not the only area in which the Games are being sought to be made environmentally sustainable.
With its tradition as a sports event organiser, France already has a significant infrastructure in place, such as the Stade de France football stadium and the Roland-Garros tennis complex.
Hence, the organizers estimate that “95% of the infrastructure being used for the Paris 2024 Games is temporary or already in place.”
In many cases, equipment will be rented rather than purchased: “Of the two million sports equipment, three-quarters will be rented or provided by sports federations,” the IOC said.
The aim is to transform unconsumed food (for example, into compost) and there are also plans to reduce single-use plastic by half. catering.
In transport, the use of public alternatives and bicycle paths will be maximised.
Likewise, electric, hybrid and hydrogen vehicles will be included in the fleet that transports the athletes.
Click here to read more stories from BBC News Mundo.
You can also follow us on Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook and in our new WhatsApp channelwhere you’ll find breaking news and our best content.
And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.
- Controversy in France over ban on athletes wearing hijab at the Olympics
- After 100 years, you can swim in the Seine River in Paris again