The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be the biggest event ever held in France from July 26 to August 11, 2024, for which Paris 2024 will be the heart of the world. For the third time, the French capital will host the Olympics after those of 1900 and 1924, exactly a century after the last Parisian edition of the Games. For 17 days, the whole world will be captivated by a spectacle of athletic prowess and fair play, but also of excellence, friendship and respect. A total of 329 medal events will be contested at no fewer than 35 venues spread across Paris, the Île-de-France region and the rest of France, including Tahiti.

The prestigious opening ceremony will take place on the Seine, the river that runs through the capital on July 26, a unique opportunity for Paris as the world's leading tourist destination to showcase its assets and attractions.

Paris aims to create a unique showcase for French excellence, with a magnificent backdrop that will be admired by 4.5 billion television viewers, to offer a new Olympic impetus, even if the organization of such an event gives rise to debate about its cost and environmental impact, with a budget estimated at less than 9 billion euros, The cheapest of recent decades.

Three top athletes are representing Cambodia at the Olympics. Sprinter Chhun Bunthorn, and two swimmers, Antoine Le Lapparent, a 17-year-old of Cambodian-French parentage along with Cambodian-American Sakbun Apsara Katarina. Bunthorn became the first Cambodian to win a gold medal in the men’s 800m race at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Cambodia last year in May.

Moreover, a grand “Relais autour du monde” was organized, presenting seven Cambodian volunteers selected as part of the Paris 2024 Volunteers program, who left for France in the first quarter to carry out a civic service mission to help organize these Olympic Games.

France aims to make the Olympic Games a real climate laboratory, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement. By way of example, the Seine Saint-Denis department is concentrating on the three new main buildings, all of which will be low-energy and which will be transformed into an eco-district. The aim of these Games is to produce no more than 1.5 million metric tons of CO2., where in fact 95% of the infrastructure is already in place. This shows the country’s dedication to preserve and promote local biodiversity and heritage.

Designed and created by Mathieu Lehanneur, the torch for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games is perfectly symmetrical to achieve perfect gender parity. The torch features wave effects and three-dimensional vibrations, evoking water, whereas the torch's curves and rounded lines represent serenity. The Torch Relay is an inescapable tradition that takes us back to the roots of the Games. Lit in Olympia, Greece on April 16, 2024, the Olympic flame will arrive in Paris for the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics on Friday, July 26.

Meanwhile, the mascots of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games are the Phrygians, two characters inspired by the Phrygian bonnet worn in France for centuries, from 1163, when Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral was built. This bonnet is considered a symbol of freedom, of the Revolution and of the French Republic itself.

Since mid-July, foreign athletes have been discovering the Olympic Village in Saint-Denis, a special place with 82 buildings accommodating a total of 14,250 people, including around 9,000 athletes. There will be three main areas that will host Paris 2024, wherein 13 venues are within Paris, 12 in Île-de-France region, and 10 scattered throughout the country.

Written by: Cécile Hautemulle