Paris Olympics: 6 things to watch for at the games

For the next two and a half weeks, Olympic enthusiasts will be tuning in to watch athletes from all over the world compete in the Paris Olympic Games.

According to Olympic officials, there will be millions of spectators watching 10,500 athletes compete at 35 venues.

By the numbers

The Olympics are about numbers, from gold medal scores to hundreds of thousands of meals served daily, here are some of the numbers that will all add up to the Paris Games:

• 35 venues
• 10,500 athletes
• 45,000 volunteers
• 600,000+ meals served in the Athletes Village daily
• 19 days of competition
• 329 events
• 32 sports

The Phryges

Meet the Phryges, the mascots for the Olympics, which are based on Phrygian, or liberty, caps. They were debuted in November 2022, USA Today reported. The Olympic Phryge has a “methodical mind and alluring charm” while the Paralympic Phryge is “a party animal, spontaneous and a bit hot headed.”

They were both “chosen as symbols of Freedom and to represent allegorical figures of the French Republic.”

“Rather than an animal, our mascots represent an ideal,” Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet said. “Since it is familiar to us and appears on our stamps and the pediments of our town halls, it also represents French identity and spirit.”

If you’re trying to figure out how to say Phryges it is pronounced “free-jee-us.”

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New and returning events

The Paris Olympics will have a new sport this year. Breaking or breakdancing is joining the ranks of basketball, gymnastics and swimming.

CBS Sports reported that 16 athletes will compete in “spectacular solo battles.”

Women will compete on Aug 9 while men will dance on Aug. 10. The competition will start with a round-robin and then progress to a quarter-final, semifinal and then the final all on the same day. The competitions start at 10:15 a.m. ET each day and the medals will be awarded at 3:15 p.m.

CNET said it will be similar to gymnastics and ice skating when it comes to how the dances are judged, but one difference will be the competitors will not know the music they will be performing to, played by DJs. It will also not be held in a stadium or arena, instead, it will be held in a public square, the Place de la Concorde, the same location where skateboarding, BMX freestyle and 3x3 basketball will be held.

After the end of the Paris games, it will be a while until breaking returns to the international stage. It will not be part of the 2028 Los Angeles games, but may return in 2032 in Brisbane, CNET reported.

Kayak cross is a combination of snowboard cross mixed with a canoe slalom course but using kayaks, CNET reported. Four kayakers will race trying to go through six downstream and two upstream gates. They are competing against each other and the time.

Men will be competing for the first time in artistic swimming while a new weight class for women has been added to the boxing competition.

In addition to breaking and kayak cross, there will be some sports returning to the games this year.

Sports climbing will return again this year for the second time. Sports climbing takes place indoors on a 49-foot inverted wall which competitors have to scale in six minutes.

Speed climbing has competitors go up the same wall in seconds. Finally, there’s bouldering on a 13-foot wall with no safety rope where athletes scale the wall in the fastest times in the fewest tries. It debuted in the previous games held in Tokyo.

The climbing events start on Aug. 5. Speed finals will be held on Aug. 7 and 8 while bouldering and lead combined finals will be held on Aug. 9 and 10, according to CNET.

Another event that is coming back after its Tokyo debut is skateboarding. There are two styles — park and street — where 22 men and 22 women will have to show off their skills based on difficulty, speed and moves. The park version will be done on bowls and bends while the street competitions will be done on a replica urban environment, CBS Sports reported. Skateboarding street finals will be on July 27 and 28 while park finals occurring on Aug. 6 and 7, CNET reported.

While most of the events will be held in Paris, one returning sport is being held half a world away in Tahiti. Forty-eight surfers will be traveling to the islands to ride the Teahopo’o wave to perform tricks on short boards, known for their maneuverability. Surfing will start on July 29. The competition had a long time coming after first being requested in the 1920s but finally debuting in Tokyo, according to CBS Sports.

Click here to see all of the sports that are part of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Iconic locations

The City of Lights will be highlighted in the competitions and other Olympic events.

The parade of nations during the opening ceremony won’t have athletes marching into a packed stadium. Instead, thousands of competitors will be floating on boats down the River Seine.

Beach volleyball will be held in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, the “Today” show reported.

The place of kings will play host to equestrian events where the Palace of Versailles will be transformed for the horse riding competitions, USA Today reported.

Archery will be held at the Esplanade des Invalides. The Hôtel des Invalides was built in 1687 and holds the tomb of Napoleon Bonapart.

Swimmers will dive into the River Seine.

Tahiti will be the focus for surfers as they try their skills against the Wall of Skulls, the nickname of Teahupo’o on the southwest coach of Tahiti. The wave is one of the heaviest in the world, according to The Los Angeles Times, which called it “more like a slab of concrete than water.” The newspaper called it “a bold choice that has some safety-conscious experts shaking their heads and ghoulish spectators licking their chops.”

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Youngest American athlete

Imagine competition on a world stage when others your age are worried about getting their driver’s licenses.

That’s the case for Quincy Wilson, who at the age of 16 years and 200 days, is the youngest American to compete in this year’s games. Wilson is a runner taking part in track competitions. The Bullis School junior hails from outside of Washington, D.C. and is part of the 4x400 relay pool after running under 45 seconds in three heats at the trials. He broke a 42-year record by running 44.59 in the trials semifinals, ESPN reported.

Wilson is not the youngest competitor this year.

While there are no age limits to take part according to the International Olympic Committee rules, typically there are no competitors under the age of 16, but some countries allow kids as young as 13 to take part, but it basically depends on the rules of the individual sports. Divers can be as young as 14 while gymnasts have to be at least 16, ESPN reported.

This year there is an 11-year-old from China competing in the skateboarding competition, the youngest athlete in the games. The youngest competitor ever was 10-year-old Dimitrios Loundras who competed and won a bronze medal in the 1896 Athens Summer Olympics as part of the Greek gymnastics team, according to ESPN.

Celebrity athletes competing

Household names will be taking part in the games trying to take home their first, third, eighth or even 11th medal.

According to The New York Times:

• Simone Biles will once again take the spotlight in gymnastics after dropping out during the Toyko games after developing “the twisties” or becoming disoriented while doing her flips.
• NBA greats LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Joel Embiid, will be on the court for USA Basketball competing against other NBA stars such as Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
• Katie Ledecky will be going for more Olympic medals competing in five events.

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