2024 Summer Olympics

Ernest Hemingway once wrote that Paris “is a moveable feast,” and, for the Olympic fortnite, Paris fulfilled that description. The Games of the XXXIIIrd Olympiad were magical Games, to an Olympic Movement starving for them, after the problems of recent Games. The IOC hoped for, longed for, Paris to restore the world’s faith in the Olympic Games and they delivered.

Before the Games, the French public was uncertain if they wanted to host the Olympic Games, and the many problems these can cause. But once they started, the French people were 100% behind the Olympics, with huge crowds at every venue, even for the more lesser known sports. And they were never silent, cheering madly for the home team, but rarely openly rooting against the athletes from other nations.

The Paris Olympics were not without controversy. There were few Russian athletes competing, and those who did competed as AIN = Athlètes Individuels Neutres, because of the ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine (as many international federations banned them, or put severe restrictions on how they could qualify). In boxing, Algerian Imane Khelif and Chinese Taipei boxer Lin Yu-Ting controversially competed, although they had been banned from the 2023 World Championships after failing unspecified gender eligibility tests. And although the COVID pandemic seemed a memory and had largely abated, it still had an effect in the men’s athletics 200 metres, where favored Noah Lyles, who had already won 100 metre gold, took bronze, only to reveal he had been diagnosed with COVID a few days before the final.

But there were many wonderful sporting moments in Paris. The French embraced swimmer Léon Marchand, who won five medals and four gold medals in the pool. Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles furthered their status as all-time Olympic greats, with Ledecky winning two more swimming gold medals and two other medals, while Biles won three golds, including a second all-around title in gymnastics. Ledecky won her 7th and 8th individual Olympic gold medals, the second most all-time, surpassed only by Michael Phelps, with 13.

Georgian shooter Nino Salukvadze, who had previously competed for the Soviet Union and the Unified Team, became the second Olympian, after Ian Millar, to compete at 10 Olympic Games. Germany’s Isabell Werth became the first Olympian to medal at seven Olympics, all in equestrian dressage, while Cuban wrestler Mijaín López won his fifth consecutive Olympic title in super-heavyweight Greco-Roman, becoming the first athlete with five gold medals in a single event. Distance runner Sifan Hassan attempted to duplicate the 1952 feat of Emil Zátopek, who won golds in the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres, and marathon, but Hassan could not quite match Zátopek, winning marathon gold and taking bronze in the other two distance events.

Paris 2024 saw innovations, as breaking, a street-type of dancing competition, was added to the Olympic Programme. Surfing was held in Tahiti, setting a record as the Olympic venue farthest from the main Olympic centre, 15,715 km away. And the Games started with an Opening Ceremony not held in the main stadium, but with the teams traversing the River Seine. Even a very rainy night could not dampen the celebration.

However, it was the people of France who made the Paris Olympics and who we may remember the most. There was security, certainly, with all that goes on in the world, and the recent turmoil caused by an IOC member nation (Russia) that threatened the peace of the Games. But it was never obtrusive and, fortunately, nothing of any consequence ever happened.

The weather cooperated, warm on a few days, with light rain on a few others, but mostly very pleasant for 17 days. The venues slayed. Beach volleyball in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, at sunset with the sun disappearing behind the Tower. Fencing and wrestling in the Grand Palais. Equestrian sport in the gardens of Versailles. Could it be any better?

Near the end of the Games, an unknown Frenchman tweeted, “Je suis déjà nostalgique, sans trouver le sommeil. On a eu nos jeux à la maison, j’ai jamais vu mon pays aussi soudé, les gens aussi heureux. C’était les jeux du bonheur, avant de revoir les gens se haïr et se déchirer au moindre sujet. Vive le sport.” (“I’m already nostalgic, without finding sleep. We had our Games at home, I have never seen my country so united, people so happy. These were the games of happiness, before seeing people hate each other and tear each other apart over the slightest subject. Long live sport.”)

Hemingway never said it better. Paris was the Happy Olympics.

Host city announcement at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru on 13 September 2017. Paris, France was chosen to host the Games of the XXXIIIrd Olympiad (2024), along with Los Angeles, California, United States being chosen to host the Games of the XXXIVth Olympiad (2028) in a joint selection. Several other cities had bid for 2024, including Los Angeles, which was chosen as the USA bid city after Boston, Massachusetts withdrew. Budapest, Hungary; Hamburg, Germany; and Roma, Italy had also bid for the 2024 Olympic Games but they had all withdrawn before the IOC Session.