50 Fun Facts About Paris 2024 Olympics

Which sport made its Olympic debut at Paris 2024?

Breaking was the one new sport in Paris, since the other three had arrived at Tokyo 2020, and it may prove a one-off: it is not on the programme for the 2028 Games.

Which French football great ran the Olympic flame through Paris in the opening film of the 2024 ceremony?

Zinedine Zidane dashed through the streets and into the Métro with the flame, then reappeared at the end of the night to hand it to a Spaniard, Rafael Nadal.

Which animated characters starred in an underwater sketch made for the Paris 2024 opening ceremony?

The Minions got the slot as icons of French cinema: the Despicable Me films are animated at Illumination's Paris studio, and French director Pierre Coffin voices the creatures himself.

Which other city was the last rival left when the IOC decided to award 2024 and 2028 together?

Los Angeles and Paris were the last bidders standing after rivals pulled out over costs, so the IOC kept both: the Americans agreed to wait until 2028 in return for extra IOC funding.

Paris's previous Olympics, in 1924, are the setting of which film?

Chariots of Fire follows British sprinters Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell at the 1924 Paris Games; the stadium where they ran, at Colombes, was brought back in 2024 to host the hockey.

Where were the Paris 2024 surfing events held?

Teahupo'o, Tahiti, was chosen over Biarritz and other mainland beaches for its famously heavy wave, although it lies some 15,000 km from Paris, farther than any Olympic event had been held from its host city.

Which Mediterranean city hosted the sailing events of Paris 2024?

Marseille also welcomed the Olympic flame to France: it crossed the Mediterranean from Athens aboard the Belem, a three-masted sailing ship launched in 1896.

Which nation topped the medal table at Paris 2024?

The United States drew level with China on 40 golds by winning the last final of the Games, the women's basketball, by a single point, and took first place on silver medals, 44 to 27.

Which gymnast won three golds at Paris 2024, three years after pulling out of most of her events in Tokyo?

Simone Biles took the team, all-around and vault titles, having withdrawn in Tokyo with the 'twisties', a loss of air awareness that makes twisting skills dangerous.

Which nation finished third on the Paris 2024 gold-medal table, with 20 golds?

Japan's 20 golds put it third, yet its 45 medals in all ranked only sixth, behind Great Britain, France and Australia as well as the top two.

Which sport gave hosts France their first gold of Paris 2024?

Rugby sevens struck first: Antoine Dupont came off the bench in the final to score two tries and set up another in a 28–7 win over the defending champions, Fiji.

Cindy Ngamba won the Refugee Olympic Team's first-ever medal at Paris 2024 in which sport?

Boxing awards bronze to both losing semi-finalists, so Ngamba, born in Cameroon and based in Britain, was sure of a medal the moment she won her quarter-final.

Julien Alfred's 100 m gold over Sha'Carri Richardson was which Caribbean nation's first Olympic medal?

Saint Lucia had been to seven Games without a medal before Alfred won in a Paris downpour; she went on to add silver in the 200 m.

Which American sprinter won the men's 100 m at Paris 2024 by five-thousandths of a second?

Noah Lyles trailed Jamaica's Kishane Thompson until the final stride and needed a photo finish to be named the winner; all eight finalists crossed the line within 0.12 seconds.

Paris 2024's 9.5 million ticket sales beat a record set at which Games?

Atlanta 1996 had sold 8.3 million tickets; Paris passed that total as crowds returned in force, three years after Tokyo's events were held behind closed doors because of the pandemic.

Each Paris 2024 medal is set with a hexagonal piece of which Paris landmark?

Eiffel Tower iron, removed during past refurbishments and kept for years in a secret warehouse, was cut into hexagons, a nod to the six-sided shape of mainland France.

Which pole vaulter, with gold already won at Paris 2024, went on to break his own world record?

Armand Duplantis of Sweden had the title won at six metres, raised the Olympic record to 6.10 m and then cleared 6.25 m, one centimetre above his previous world best.

Which Greek goddess appears on the back of every Paris 2024 Olympic medal?

Nike, the goddess of victory, is a fixture: every Summer Games medal since Athens 2004 has shown her at the Panathenaic Stadium, where the modern Olympics began, and Paris kept the tradition.

The trackside bell that new Olympic champions rang at Paris 2024 was later installed in which landmark?

Notre-Dame received the bell as a gift from the organisers a month before the cathedral reopened after its 2019 fire; it now hangs above the altar and is rung during Mass.

Who was the artistic director of the Paris 2024 opening ceremony?

Thomas Jolly, a theatre director, staged the show along the river instead of in a stadium; when one tableau was taken for a parody of the Last Supper, he said mocking religion had never been his intention.

Which singer closed the Paris 2024 opening ceremony?

Céline Dion sang Édith Piaf's 'Hymne à l'amour' as the cauldron rose into the night, her first performance since announcing in 2022 that she has stiff-person syndrome.

Bespectacled American Stephen Nedoroscik became a viral star of Paris 2024 as a specialist on which gymnastics apparatus?

Pommel horse was his only event: he waited through the whole team final, took off his glasses and delivered the routine that sealed the US men's first team medal in 16 years.

Paris 2024's opening ceremony showed Philippe Katerine painted blue as which Greek god?

Dionysus, god of wine, was the organisers' answer when the banquet tableau around him was taken for a parody of the Last Supper; they apologised to anyone who had been offended.

Which French heavy metal band performed at the Paris 2024 opening ceremony?

Gojira played a French Revolution song from the windows of the prison that once held Marie Antoinette, with an opera singer and a headless queen, and the performance later won a Grammy.

At Paris 2024, judoka Teddy Riner lit the Olympic cauldron alongside which sprinter?

Marie-José Pérec, a three-time Olympic champion, shared the honour with Riner, who like her was born in Guadeloupe and who went on to win two more judo golds at those Games.

Above which Paris garden did the balloon-style Olympic cauldron float each evening in 2024?

Tuileries hosted the cauldron beside the Louvre, its ring of light rising 60 metres above the garden each evening; in 2025 France announced the balloon would return every summer until the 2028 Games.

How were the flames of the Paris 2024 cauldron produced, a first for the Olympics?

LED lights and water mist stood in for flames because the organisers wanted low-carbon Games; their chief said the cauldron should be spectacular without the emissions of burning fuel.

Where was the Paris 2024 closing ceremony held?

Stade de France got the farewell after being passed over for the opening, which was staged on the river; the show ended there with the flame, carried in its lantern, being blown out.

Which sport was staged beneath the glass roof of the Grand Palais at Paris 2024?

Fencing shared the Grand Palais with taekwondo; the hall, built for the 1900 World's Fair, had closed in 2021 for its first full restoration and reopened in time for the Games.

Which American actor starred in the handover to the 2028 hosts at the Paris closing ceremony?

Tom Cruise descended on a wire from the stadium roof, collected the Olympic flag and rode out on a motorcycle, a stunt in the style of his Mission: Impossible films.

Which Paris 2024 event was postponed by a day after the Seine failed a pollution test?

The men's triathlon was called off hours before its start when a 3.30am test found the river still too polluted after heavy rain; it was run the next day, straight after the women's race.

Which American swimmer's four medals at Paris 2024 made her the most decorated US woman in Olympic history?

Katie Ledecky opened with only a bronze in the 400 m freestyle, beaten by Ariarne Titmus and Summer McIntosh, then won both the 1,500 m and the 800 m.

Which runner won the Paris 2024 women's marathon days after two bronze medals on the track?

Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands passed Tigst Assefa along the railing after the two traded elbows 150 metres from the line, and won in an Olympic record time.

Which new event at Paris 2024 had four paddlers race each other through gates at once?

Kayak cross starts with all four boats dropping off a ramp into the rapids together; contact is allowed, and every racer must complete a full roll on the way down.

Which sport allowed men to take part for the first time at Paris 2024?

Artistic swimming let each team of eight include up to two men, yet the change stayed on paper: none of the ten nations picked a man for Paris.

Paris 2024's red mascots are cartoon versions of which French symbol?

Phrygian caps, the soft red bonnets French revolutionaries wore as a sign of liberty, were chosen, the organisers said, as 'an ideal rather than an animal'; the mascots are called the Phryges.

The Paris 2024 emblem shows the face of which French figure?

Marianne, the face of the French Republic since the Revolution, was chosen partly as a nod to Paris 1900, the first Games in which women competed; some joked the logo belonged on a dating app.

Which tennis great finally won Olympic gold at Paris 2024, beating Carlos Alcaraz in the final?

Novak Djokovic, 37, had lost to the eventual champion at three earlier Games; two tie-breaks against Alcaraz completed his career Golden Slam, all four majors plus Olympic gold.

Who was president of the Paris 2024 organising committee?

Tony Estanguet won canoe slalom gold at three Games, in 2000, 2004 and 2012, then became the public face of Paris 2024, presenting everything from the medals to the mascots himself.

Which luxury group supplied the trunks that carried the Paris 2024 torch and medals?

LVMH, a premium sponsor, put its houses to work: Louis Vuitton built the trunks, Chaumet designed the medals and Berluti dressed the French team for the opening ceremony.

Which Belgian brewer became the Olympic movement's first worldwide beer sponsor in January 2024?

AB InBev signed on for three Games, through 2028, at a launch in a London bar, and chose to front the deal with an alcohol-free beer, Corona Cero.

Under what name did approved Russian and Belarusian athletes compete at Paris 2024?

Individual Neutral Athletes competed without flag, anthem or national colours, were kept out of the opening parade and team events, and did not appear in the medal table.

Turkey's Yusuf Dikeç became a meme at Paris 2024 by winning silver with one hand in his pocket in which sport?

Shooting rarely looks so casual: while rivals wore custom lenses and ear protection, he used everyday glasses and won Turkey's first Olympic medal in the sport, a mixed team silver.

Which swimmer won the most gold medals at Paris 2024, with four?

Léon Marchand won four individual titles, the 200 m butterfly, 200 m breaststroke and both medleys, and was chosen to carry the flame from the cauldron to the closing ceremony.

Which American star hit four three-pointers in the closing minutes to beat hosts France in the men's basketball final?

Stephen Curry made all four in a span of 132 seconds after France had closed to within three points, and finished with 24 points in a 98–87 win.

Which mentor of Michael Phelps coached France's star medley swimmer at Arizona State?

Bob Bowman took on the Frenchman after receiving a cold email from him, and the partnership carried on when both left Arizona State for Texas in 2024.

The Paris 2024 marathon route paid tribute to which event of the French Revolution?

The Women's March on Versailles of October 1789 set the course: runners left the Hôtel de Ville, as the marchers had on their way to confront the king, turned at the palace and came back to finish at Les Invalides.

Which French swimmer carried the Paris 2024 flame at Olympia?

Laure Manaudou received the flame from Greek rower Stefanos Douskos at Olympia; three weeks later her brother Florent carried it ashore as the first torchbearer on French soil.

Which venue served only plant-based food?

It hosted skateboarding, breaking and BMX, while athletes in the Village ate about 30% plant-based meals.

Paris 2024's masked rooftop torchbearer was widely likened to which Assassin's Creed hero?

Arno Dorian is the hooded hero of Assassin's Creed Unity, set in revolutionary Paris; the game's makers played along, posting that Arno 'might just be watching from above'.