What's new for Paris 2024?

Paris 2024 16 Jul 24

The Olympic Games are a tale as old as time.

Whether it's the first-ever recorded ancient Games in 776 BC or the modern Olympics of today, for two weeks every four years, the world comes together to celebrate the very best in sport.

However, there have been several notable changes to the format of the Games with each passing edition, as new sports take centre stage and venues strike to impress.

As the clock officially marks one year to go, here's everything new at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

One-of-a-kind Opening Ceremony

For the first time in the Games' history, the Opening Ceremony will not take place in a stadium in 2024.

Instead, the River Seine will be the venue for the memorable event, with the Athletes' Parade consisting of a 6km route down the river, with boats for each national delegation.

The parade will come to the end of its journey in front of the Trocadéro, the area across the river from the Eiffel Tower.

There, the expected Olympic protocol speeches will take place along with the highly anticipated lighting of the flame.

Swimming in the Seine

The Seine is not well known for its 'swimability' but is set to transform into the venue for marathon swimming and triathlon in 2024.

Still in the early stages, the plan is to use the part of the river that stretches from the Pont de l’Alma bridge to the Trocadéro for the men's and women's 10km, and all triathlon swimming legs.

Swimming in the Seine was banned in 1923 but the French government hopes that their efforts will be long-lasting, and the river can become a swimming haven for years to come.

Sport climbing splits in two

Sport climbing made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 but the sport will be slightly different in Paris.

Instead of competing for one medal over all three disciplines of speed, bouldering and lead, athletes will battle in two separate events: speed, and boulder and lead combined, with medals available in both.

This will give specialised climbers greater opportunity to shine.

Women cross the finish line in triathlon mixed relay

The image of an emotional Alex Yee crossing the finish line for gold in the mixed triathlon relay will live long in the memory of Team GB.

But Yee's chance to repeat that moment will be impossible in Paris after a new order of racing was introduced.

The mixed relay must now be held in a man-woman-man-woman format, meaning it will be a woman who crosses the finish line for every NOC in Paris.

Marathon open to all

Amateur athletes will be able to run the Olympic marathon route by night during Paris 2024.

The Mass Participation marathon and 10km events will enable people to experience the Olympics themselves, setting off from the Hôtel de Ville in Paris at 9pm and finishing at Les Invalides.

The route will pass through nine districts of the Île-de-France region, with an iconic number of 20,024 participants taking part.

The newest Olympic sport: Breaking

The only new sport at the Paris 2024 Olympics, breaking will take place at Place de la Concorde over two days this summer.

Breaking is a style of dance that originated in the United States during the 1970s, influenced by a lively hip-hop culture.

Two events, one for men and one for women, will see 16 B-Boys and 16 B-Girls take to the floor to battle in Paris as competitors adapt their moves and improvise to the DJ’s tracks to secure the judges’ vote and advance to their next battle.

Watch out for the power moves, freezes and windmills.

New disciplines in sailing

Two new sailing events will take place for the first time in 2024, with windsurfing – iQFoil and kiteboarding making their debuts.

Sailing has featured in every edition of the modern Games, bar Athens 1896 due to bad weather, and has seen many changes to its competition events over that time.

The ILCA 7, ILCA 6, Nacra 17, 49er ad 49erFX will all return in Marseille, with the 470 now a mixed event rather than separate men and women.

Whilst the RS:X has been replaced with the iQFoil and Formula Kite added to the programme.

Canoe slalom - but not as we know it

Kayak cross, previously known as extreme slalom, will be making its Olympic debut next summer.

Four boats are simultaneously pushed off a ramp placed more than two metres above the water, splashing onto the course as one.

From there, it’s quite literally a battle to the finish line with contact permitted unless it borders on the dangerous, all while having to navigate downstream and upstream buoys.

Each athlete must also complete a compulsory eskimo roll (more on that later) where they will have a short window of opportunity to roll their kayak and complete a 360-degree flip.

In a word - chaos!

Read more: What is kayak cross

Repechage format in athletics

Athletics will see a change in Paris, with a new repechage format introduced.

All individual track events from 200m to 1500m, including hurdles, will now include a repechage round.

In simple terms, this means that athletes who do not automatically qualify for the semi-final during their heat will have a second opportunity in the repechage heats.

This will replace the 'fastest loser' format that was previously used.

Taekwondo introduces 'best of three'

Taekwondo will also see a different format to competition as athletes advance depending on the number of rounds they win as opposed to points.

Each fight consists of three rounds of two minutes, with a one-minute break in between.

The contestant with the highest number of points per round wins the round, with the overall winner decided on who wins the most rounds out of the three.

Previously, the winner was determined by the standard form format with the athlete with the most points at the end of the three rounds taking the victory.

Total gender equality

For the first time in history, the Olympic Games will see just as many women as men compete in Paris.

A total of 10,500 athletes, consisting of 5,250 men and 5,250 women, will vie for glory in France.

When Paris hosted the Olympics in 1900, a total of 22 women took part across tennis, golf, sailing, croquet and equestrian and our own Charlotte Cooper of Great Britain became the first-ever woman to win an Olympic medal, with tennis gold.

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