When do the Paris 2024 Olympic Games start?
The opening ceremony takes place on Friday, 26 July at 8:24pm Paris time (4:24am AEST on Saturday 27 July), marking the official beginning of the Games. The closing ceremony two weeks later on 11 August in Paris (4am Monday 12 August AEST) signals the end. But some competitions, such as football and rugby sevens, start before the opening ceremony.
How can I follow the Olympics?
The Guardian will be running a daily live blog for the duration of the Games, so you won’t miss out on a single medal won. It will first launch on Monday, four days before the opening ceremony and will run until after the closing ceremony, taking in the latest news, features and commentary from our team of reporters on the ground in France, and back on home soil, around the clock.
Otherwise, Channel Nine will broadcast the Games free to air, with coverage spread across its main channel and 9Gem. 9Now will stream every moment of every event across more than 40 dedicated channels.
Will I have to stay up all night to watch?
Live sport in Paris will begin in the early evening for most Australians, stretching through prime time and beyond. The evening Games sessions, where many medals will be decided, start in the early hours of the morning. That means watching swimming finals live will require pulling an all-nighter or setting an extra early alarm.
Are there any live sites?
Live sites, including Fed Square in Melbourne, Brisbane’s South Bank and Tumbalong Park in Sydney, are planned in most major centres and some towns around Australia. More are being added as the Games approach.
Some venues include food trucks, kids’ activities and big screens, but each has specific opening hours and offerings. Check the AOC’s live sites page to help plan your outing.
Why do some events start before the opening ceremony?
Traditionally, scheduling these early events was logistical necessity. Starting early allows players enough time between matches in sports that involve group stages. For example, a medallist in football expects to play six games, and kicking off before the opening ceremony allows two full days between each game. However organisers also scheduled other events before the opening ceremony in Tokyo, and that trend continues in Paris with archery and rugby sevens both getting under way early.
Will all the events be held in Paris?
Far from it. In fact, the Paris Games will involve one event – surfing – held 15,000km away in Tahiti, part of French Polynesia. That beats the record for the furthest event from a host city, set at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics when equestrian events were held in Stockholm due to quarantine restrictions.
Outside Paris there will also be football played in Lyon, Saint-Étienne, Nice, Marseille, Bordeaux and Nantes. Shooting will be held in central France in Châteauroux. Lille will host basketball preliminaries and handball finals. And sailing events will be held off the coast of Marseille.
When is the first Australian in action?
Australia’s men’s rugby sevens players start their competition on Wednesday 24 July with a match against Samoa, which will be broadcast at 11.30pm on the Australian east coast. They will back up with a match against Kenya four and a half hours later.
On Thursday their crunch match against Argentina takes place at the slightly more palatable 10.30pm in Sydney and Melbourne, or a positively prime time 8.30pm in Perth. The quarter-finals take place starting at 5am AEST on Friday morning.
Australia’s archers Peter Boukouvalas and Laura Paeglis will also be in action in their preliminary ranking round on Thursday evening, and early on Friday morning, the Matildas’ crucial first match against Germany kicks off at 3am AEST.
The Boomers, Kookaburras and Australian beach volleyball representatives all begin their competitions on Saturday before midnight Australian time.
How many medals will Australia win?
Hopes are high for Australia after a successful Tokyo Games, where the team won 17 gold medals – their joint highest return alongside Athens 2004. Data analysts Gracenote predict Australia will claim 13 golds as part of a haul of 48 medals, but much will depend on the team’s performance in the pool.
Gracenote predict Australia will finish fifth in terms of combined medals, behind the USA, China, Great Britain and hosts France, narrowly shading Japan, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. The most medals the team has won overall at a Games was 58 in Sydney, headlined by 16 gold.
Who makes up the Australian team?
The Australian contingent is 460-strong, the third largest contingent sent to an overseas Games behind Tokyo (486) and Athens (482). But it is more experienced than the one sent to Japan. Paris athletes have competed at a total of 334 Olympics, compared to 260 in Tokyo, and 50% will make their debut this year compared with 62% three years ago. Women represent 55.6% of the team – a record high. At the Paris 1924 Games there were no women in the Australian team.
Which new sports have been added?
Breaking, broadly known as breakdancing, will debut at the Paris Games. Australia’s Rachael “Raygun” Gunn and Jeff “J-Attack” Dunne will compete in the dance battles at Place de la Concorde in the centre of the city. The sport has been dropped from the program at the LA 2028 Games, potentially making the Paris contest an Olympic one-off.
Other sports have variations in their programs. Sport climbing is now split into two disciplines, speed and lead/bouldering, and Australia’s bouldering expert Oceana Mackenzie is in contention for a medal. Kayak cross, where four athletes race down the course together, will also debut in Paris. There, Australia’s Jess Fox will be a contender. And sailing’s program now includes windsurfing and kiteboarding.
Will Russia compete?
Thirty-one individual athletes from Russia and Belarus have been invited to compete under a neutral flag, but they must not actively support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the week before the opening ceremony, human rights law organisation Global Rights Compliance identified 17 of this group who had violated the IOC’s rules, including by liking pro-war posts on social media, and called for the involvement of these athletes to be reviewed.
There will be no Russian or Belarusian representation in team events.
What is the latest doping controversy?
The World Anti-Doping Agency faced strong criticism following publication this year of its decision in 2021 not to appeal a decision that cleared 23 Chinese swimmers, and commissioned an independent review in April. That found no bias in its actions towards China, but the episode cultivated deep suspicion – especially from athletes – about Wada’s effectiveness.
World Aquatics, swimming’s governing body, completed its own probe. That found no mismanagement or cover-up, but swimming officials have pledged to test Chinese swimmers no less than eight times before competition begins in Paris.
Facts and figures
Oldest and youngest athletes: Shane Rose, 51, equestrian; Arisa Trew, 14, skateboarding
Siblings: five pairs, including Noemie and Jess Fox in canoe slalom, and Minjee and Min Woo Lee in golf
Average age: 26.5
Birthplace: 88% Australia, 12% overseas
Athletes at their fifth Games: Patty Mills, Lauren Jackson, Joe Ingles, Edwina Tops-Alexander, Eddie Ockenden and Melissa Wu
Apparel: 115,000 clothing items, 5,200 pairs of shoes, 254 different competition wear items
Breakfast: 1.4 tonnes of cereals sent from Australia, and 20,000 shots of coffee
Bandages: 800km worth
