This year, Paris becomes the only city other than London that will have hosted the Olympic Summer Games three times, having done so before in 1900 and 1924 – and fittingly so, as it was a Frenchman – Pierre de Coubertin – who inspired the revival of the summer games of classical Greece and with this initiated the era of the modern Olympic Games. He suitably ceded the hosting of the very first ‘new’ Olympics in 1896 to Greece’s capital Athens, birthplace of the concept that has inspired what is also the greatest sports event in the modern world.

Exactly one hundred years after it last organised the games, Paris becomes the centre point of the world when it welcomes more than 10,500 athletes from over 250 countries, who will be competing in 329 events across 32 sports. They will be staying at the specially designed Olympic Village, where they can train in peace and keep their focus on the sport in hand. Security will be tight, with 40,000 policemen and women supported by 15,000 soldiers and special units of the French military, intelligence, and satellite imaging services, including complete control of the skies and surveillance of the city.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators will visit the games held in Paris and 16 other cities, including venues on the other side of the world, in French Polynesia, and there are estimates of a combined 15 million visitors to the events, not to mention visitors to the country, whose economy will receive a significant boost in a year that also features another huge (annual) sports event and logistical wonder, the Tour de France. In other words, this year Europe will be the centre of sport, with the European Football Championships being held in neighbouring Germany, and the Olympics and Tour in France, drawing large numbers of followers.

Billions more will follow it on television and online. At the Tokyo games in 2020, around 3 billion people watched the action, and it is estimated that this figure will easily be surpassed in Paris this year, following the action from the no-doubt spectacular opening ceremony to the equally creative show that will wrap it all up over two weeks later. 2024 will be the first Olympic Games with an equal number of male and female athletes, and also the first to feature breakdancing as an official event. Many of us on the Costa del Sol are also rooting for padel tennis, but that will take a little longer to realise.

For now, the newer events also include sport climbing, skateboarding, and surfing, with the latter competition taking place within France’s territories in the Pacific. Despite it costing around €8.5 billion to host, the 2024 Paris Olympics will be perhaps the most socially minded to date, as the city’s infrastructure already provides for a great many of the required sports venues, with the minor updating and expansion needed replacing the massive construction programmes of recent Olympics. It is estimated that around 13 million meals and snacks will be served during the event, provided in part by some of the 30,000 volunteers, who will also assist in the administering of over 6,000 anti-doping tests. The modern Games are, evidently, an organisational exercise on a grand scale.

A Greener Paris

In addition to embodying a drive to make each successive Olympic Games greener than the one before, the Paris 2024 Olympics will also leave behind a physical legacy that veers towards the environment, with entire areas given a green (landscaping) makeover before the event that is very much intended to become a permanent feature. Most famously, the Champs Elysées, perhaps the world’s most illustrious avenue, will return to its former glory thanks to an extensive restauration programme that will also see the car lanes halved and replaced with a pedestrian parkway lined with trees, plants, flowers, and outdoor cafés. This famous tourist site will in this way be given back to city residents while also providing a fresh new attraction for visitors.

The thinking is clear, as more and more major cities, from New York and Beijing to now also Paris, are keen to create new green spaces to beautify their downtown areas, provide leisure and sports facilities, as well as create cooler areas with a natural feel. For those familiar with Paris, it will create a whole new look that may be somewhat unfamiliar at first, but like the now-iconic Eiffel Tower will become an integral landmark of the city. It will be interesting to see just how the aesthetics of the city will alter, but it seems like a welcome change in an era where we’re searching for greener solutions and living environments.

The Sport

Traditionally, the top draws at the summer Olympics are the field and especially track events in the main host stadium – in this case the Stade de France – swimming, gymnastics, volleyball, and of course universally popular sports such as football, tennis, basketball, boxing, equestrian sports, and cycling. Other disciplines that are seldom focused on but receive a great deal of attention during the Olympics include weightlifting, judo, taekwondo, handball, badminton, table tennis, fencing, rowing, and kayak. BMX, beach volleyball, and rugby sevens, while relatively new, have also become popular events at the games. Let’s see if they bring some new surprises and upsets, like when rising Danish badminton star Viktor Axelsen broke the long-held Chinese domination of the sport at the Rio Games in 2016. In basketball, the US is as usual the team to beat, with stars such as Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and the likes of LeBron James, no less. They are among the big names to watch at these Olympics, where Europe’s charge will be led by Nikola Jokić of Serbia and France’s Victor Wembanyama.

One of the ‘sexiest’ events is beach volleyball, where the USA appears to have gained the upper hand, though there will be stiff opposition from the likes of Brazil and Australia, just as the Americans will also try to break the hegemony of the Dutch in women’s cycling. The question remains if the GB team will be able to maintain its medal haul of previous Olympic Games in cycling and overall, but popular platform diver Tom Daley will be doing his best to repeat earlier successes for Britain. He will have to see off some serious Chinese challenges to achieve it, with fellow Brit Ben Maher another medal hopeful in the Equestrian events.

India’s hopes of gold will be focused squarely on field hockey, but here they will face great opposition from The Netherlands, Germany, and Australia, just as Rory McIlroy will be attempting to thwart American plans in the golf. In gymnastics, things have changed considerably since the days when Eastern European countries dominated the sport. Now it is the USA that countries like Brazil will be trying to ‘steal’ medals from. In handball and judo, home nation France will be hoping to make it their fourth gold medal in a row, with Britain looking to give chase to the Americans and Germans in the rowing.

The competitors will be travelling to idyllic Tahiti in French Polynesia for the surfing competition, where the USA, Brazil, and Australia are among the favourites, while in the swimming competition Britain and France will lead the pack chasing the Americans. With Usain Bolt no longer competing, athletics is once again very much dominated by the USA, but athletes from the Caribbean, most notably Bolt’s Jamaican compatriots, will do their best to upset the Yankees. Tennis ranks among the most high-profile sports, and here the women’s game appears to be split between American stars such as Coco Gauff and Eastern European athletes such as Sabalenka, and among the men many believe it will in the end be a battle between Serbian legend Novak Djokovic and Spanish talent Carlos Alcaraz, who could bring the gold home to Spain.

The same is true of the women’s football team, who as reigning world champions know they have it in them, but would of course have to defeat perennial favourites, team USA. In men’s football, Spain are also hopefuls, with youngsters such as Lamine Yamal, though with the likes of Kylian Mbappe in the team – considered by many to now be the best player in the world – France will be hoping for a home success to drown out memories of the 2022 world cup final loss to Argentina. In all, there will be veteran stars such as LeBron James, Rory McIlroy, and Novak Djokovic, established ones like Mbappe, Simone Biles, and swimmer Katie Ledecky, and also new rising talents to watch out for, such as the exciting new prospects Lamine Yamal, French swimmer Leon Marchand, and women’s football ace Aitana Bonmati from Spain. The games will hopefully produce many new standout athletes, and in Paris they will compete in some of the most iconic venues and settings ever.

These include athletics and cycling races that will involve world famous Parisan landmarks such as Les Invalides, the Place de la Concorde, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Trocadero, along the Champs Élysées up to the Arc de Triomphe, and of course the banks of the River Seine, where the marathon swimming will be held. The action will flow through the grand avenues and boulevards of classical Paris up to the gleaming skyscrapers of the financial district, at La Défense, where some of the indoor sports facilities are located.

Fencing and Taekwondo will have a suitably stylish venue at the evocative Grand Palais, beach volleyball at the Champ de Mars under the gaze of the famous Tour Eiffel, archery at Les Invalides, and equestrian sports and the modern pentathlon held on the incomparable grounds of the Palace of Versailles. It should be a spectacle to remember in what will be a mouthwatering summer of sport.