The Olympics begins with the opening ceremony on Friday night - then the competitive action begins for Paris 2024 on Saturday this week and continues for 16 days.
A total of 329 events will take place across team and individual disciplines and sports, with the medals dished out to those on podium places made from pieces of the iconic Eiffel Tower.
Team GB are taking 327 athletes in total to the Games, with 155 males and 172 females qualifying to represent the flag across 26 different sports. While some experienced campaigners such as Keely Hodgkinson will expect to be major contenders to win their respective disciplines, others such as Delicious Orie are competing at their first Olympics and will hope to make a massive debut impact. Elsewhere, tickets are still unsold for the opening ceremony itself with the eyes of the world soon to turn to France. Follow the live blog below for the latest updates and news buildup ahead of the Olympics:
Paris 2024 - Latest Olympic Games news and buildup
- Tickets still available for opening ceremony - and 100m final
- Team GB send six boxers to Paris
- How to watch the Olympics this summer
- Keely Hodgkinson a huge medal hope - but athletics could be a goldmine for GB
15:00
Karl Matchett
Three years ago, Lawrence Ostlere was in Tokyo for the delayed 2020 Games; here’s his wrap-up piece detailing the highs and lows, the best new bits of the Olympics - and what to expect next in Paris.
Moments after the American 20-year-old Jagger Eaton had finished competing in the men’s skateboarding street final, having been one of the few Olympians to perform with AirPods in his ears, he pulled out his phone to start an Instagram live video for his near-half a million followers.
It was an example of what the International Olympic Committee (IOC) hoped to gain by introducing new and in some cases controversial sports like skating, surfing, climbing, BMX freestyle and 3x3 “street” basketball. Eaton and Britain’s 13-year-old Sky Brown were exactly the kind of new-age stars the IOC was looking for: young, fearless, with international appeal; entertainers perfect for the digital world, with talent that could be packaged up and spread in bite-sized clips.
An Olympic shake-up had been in the works for a decade or more, and the IOC was particularly alarmed by a sharp fall in viewing figures at Rio 2016 and data which revealed a declining interest among young people. Announcing new events for Tokyo later that year, IOC president Thomas Bach said: “We want to take sport to the youth. With the many options that young people have, we cannot expect any more that they will automatically come to us. We have to go to them.”
The numbers are expected to show that new sports have helped attract new audiences, often with eye-catching shows of tricks and spins which brought a different kind of entertainment to the Olympics’ traditional ledger. They displayed a different kind of spirit too, with camaraderie forged over many years away from the Olympic spotlight. Climbers worked together to share tips on how to conquer the wall, while skaters rushed to hug and support one another whether they had flown or fallen.
This is just the start.
Olympic weightlifter Emily Campbell on chasing gold, body positivity and champion Li Wenwen: ‘Everyone’s beatable’
14:50
Lawrence Ostlere
“Everyone’s beatable,” says Emily Campbell, and that is a bolder statement than it might first sound. Campbell is the only female Olympic medallist in the history of British weightlifting after winning silver in Tokyo three years ago. But her conqueror there was the Chinese phenomenon Li Wenwen, a 24-stone colossus of furious strength, and they clash again in Paris.
At 24, Li is already twice a world champion and holds world records in both snatch and clean & jerk. At her best competing with Li is a bit like trying to outrun peak Usain Bolt. Li showed some weakness at last year’s World Championships and pulled out with an elbow injury, but she appears back to full strength this season.
Campbell is undeterred. “Nothing’s a given. If there’s an opportunity for me to win that gold on the day, you know that my team will put it on the bar and I will give it my best crack. Hopefully I’ll stand up with it.”
Daryll Neita keen ‘to compete for podium finishes’ at Paris Olympics
14:40
Karl Matchett
Daryll Neita is embracing her new ‘Miss Momentum’ moniker as she targets a first individual Olympic medal amidst a golden era for women’s sprinting.
Neita, 27, won 4x100m relay bronze at both the Rio and Tokyo Games and is in excellent form in the build-up to her third Olympics, with 2024 Diamond League victories in two distances and 200m silver at June’s European Championships, where she missed out on the title by just 0.01 seconds.
The second-fastest woman in British history may not yet command the same household-name recognition of the country’s quickest, Dina Asher-Smith, but Neita is optimistic this could be the summer that catapults her into a new echelon of public consciousness – and perhaps onto the Paris podium.
Taekwondo champion Jade Jones avoids Olympic ban over no-fault doping violation
14:20
Karl Matchett
Double Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones has escaped sanction after being found to have committed a no-fault doping violation following her failure to provide a urine sample in December last year.
The UK Anti-Doping Agency (Ukad) confirmed that on the basis of “very exceptional circumstances” relating to confidential medical records, Jones bears “no fault or negligence for her refusal or failure to submit to her sample collection”.
The ruling means the 31-year-old is able to pursue her quest for a third Olympic medal as part of a four-strong Great Britain taekwondo team in Paris later this month.
How Keely Hodgkinson can spark a ‘golden era’ for British athletics at Paris Olympics
14:00
Karl Matchett
Keely Hodgkinson really should have won her first world 800 metres title last summer. That’s what the numbers said, and athletics is nothing if not a numbers game.
With her main rival, America’s Olympic champion Athing Mu, struggling for form, fitness and fire after the upheaval of turning professional, Hodgkinson lined up in the final last August as the fastest in the field that year. The race was hers to lose. And lose she did, outsprinted down the home straight by Kenya’s Mary Moraa.
Never again, she vowed. Never again would she be defeated in a major final. And never again would she trust the numbers.
“A championship is a completely clean slate for me,” she insisted on Saturday after an astonishing 800m performance to rank sixth fastest of all time. “I’ve come into championships ranked 10th and finished second. I was world number one last year and finished second. Times aren’t everything so for me it’s a case of getting to the final and then we’ll start thinking about medals.”
More on Hodgkinson’s chances - and GB’s other athletics stars:
Is the River Seine clean for Olympic swimming? Paris mayor takes a dip to prove a point
13:40
Karl Matchett
The mayor of Paris has taken a swim in the River Seine in a bid to prove that the waters are clean enough to host open-swimming events during the Olympic Games – which start in less than two weeks.
Wearing a full-body wetsuit, Anne Hidalgo plunged into the river near Notre Dame cathedral alongside Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet and the top government official for the Paris region, Marc Guillaume.
French president Emmanuel Macron had also been planning to take a dip in the Seine. But apparently the fallout from the snap election he called last month has kept him busy.
Ms Hidalgo followed in the footsteps of French sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera, who swam in the Seine last weekend also wearing a full-body suit.
Logan and Balding to face BBC presenting restrictions at Paris Olympics
13:20
Karl Matchett
Gabby Logan will be unable to present both morning and evening events for the BBC during the Paris 2024Olympics because of French employment laws, according to the Telegraph.
The country’s strict laws state that employees must have a minimum of 11 hours between shifts. That means Logan will not be allowed to present events both early in the day and then later that evening, as planned.
Broadcasters are reportedly concerned that employees could be stopped from working if the rules are not followed.
“Because of the French working directive, we are not allowed to do the morning session and the evening session,” said Logan. “They are really strict about it apparently. It’s not just a kind of box-ticking exercise. It’s quite a change for all of us because we are used to these really early sessions in the morning.”
Logan started her presenting shifts early in the morning at the recent World Indoor Championships and worked long hours until 11pm. That will not be possible in Paris.
Paris 2024 - Olympics latest news
13:02
Karl Matchett
Just announced - the ParalympicsGB cycling squad:
Men’s B
- James Ball piloted by Steffan Lloyd – MB 1,000m time-trial, MB individual pursuit
- Steve Bate piloted by Chris Latham – MB individual pursuit, MB road race, MB time-trial
- Neil Fachie piloted by Matt Rotherham - MB 1,000m time-trial, MB individual pursuit
Men’s C2
- Matt Robertson – C2 individual pursuit, C2 time-trail, C1-3 road race
Men’s C3
- Fin Graham - C1-3 1,000m time-trial, C3 individual pursuit, mixed team sprint, C3 time-trial, C1-3 road race
- Jaco van Gass – C1-3 1,000m time-trial, C3 individual pursuit, C3 time-trial, C1-3 road race
- Ben Watson - C3 time-trial, C1-3 road race
Men’s C4
- Archie Atkinson – C4 individual pursuit, C4-5 1,000m time-trial, C4 time-trial, C4-5 road race
- Jody Cundy – C4-5 1,000m time-trial, mixed team sprint
Men’s C5
- Blaine Hunt - C5 individual pursuit, C4-5 1,000m time-trial, C4-5 road race
Women’s B
- Lora Fachie piloted by Corrine Hall – WB 1,000m time-trial, WB individual pursuit, WB time-trial, WB road race
- Lizzi Jordan piloted by Danni Khan - WB 1,000m time-trial, WB individual pursuit, WB time-trial, WB road race
- Sophie Unwin piloted by Jenny Holl - WB 1,000m time-trial, WB individual pursuit, WB time-trial, WB road race
Women’s C1
- Fran Brown – C1-3 time-trial, C1-3 road race, C1-3 time-trial
Women’s C2
- Daphne Schrager – C1-3 individual pursuit, C1-3 road race, C1-3 time-trial
Women’s C4
- Kadeena Cox – C4-5 time-trial, mixed team sprint
Women’s C5
- Dame Sarah Storey – C5 time-trial, C4-5 road race
Cutting an athlete from the Olympics for smoking is a ban too far
13:00
Karl Matchett
Imagine training your entire life to represent your country on the world stage of the Paris Olympics – all the blood, sweat, tears, and endless practice sessions – only to be sent home just one week before the event starts.
And for what reason? What terrible infraction could possibly justify flushing all that effort down the toilet? For one young athlete it was a simple matter of being caught having a cigarette.
The unfortunate Olympian in question is 19-year-old Japanese gymnast Shoko Miyata, who was due to represent the Japanese women’s gymnastics team as its captain at her first Olympics. She won a bronze medal for the balance beam at the 2022 World Championships, and hopes were high for the team to secure a podium place, and with it their first medal since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Unfortunately, Miyata was forced to withdraw from the squad after she was found to be lighting up in her spare time – a violation of the team’s code of conduct.
Sure, smoking doesn’t go hand in hand with the lifestyle of an Olympic sportsperson. But it’s a world away from using sports enhancing drugs, behaving in an unacceptable way, or being involved in corruption – all much more understandably ban-worthy offences.
Jake Wightman relieved to get Team GB ‘lifeline’ for what could be last Olympics
12:40
Karl Matchett
Former world champion Jake Wightman feels relieved to have been thrown a “lifeline” after he was named in the Team GB athletics squad for the Paris Olympics.
The British team of over 60 athletes is stacked with medal hopefuls including Dina Asher-Smith, who won 100m gold at last month’s European Championships, reigning 1500m world champion Josh Kerr, world indoor pole vault title-holder Molly Caudery and current world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, selected for her fourth Olympics.
A maximum of three athletes could be selected in each individual event, with the top two finishers at last weekend’s British Championships – which also served as the Olympic trials – claiming places provided they met selection standards.
Paris 2024 - Olympics latest news
12:33
Karl Matchett
At Paris 2024, the Olympic marathon will take place on August 10 for men and the following day for women.
For many years it has been the reverse, but France organisers have opted for the women’s race to close out the Games for a poignant reason and with a poignant route: following that taken for the Women’s March on Versailles, on 5 and 6 October 1789.
“The marathon is a symbolic event of the Games and we wanted to follow a route that has meaning. We were inspired by the Women's March on Versailles,” explained Aurélie Merle, executive director of sports competitions for Paris 2024.
“This seminal revolutionary female-led event is intrinsically tied to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games values, like putting women in the spotlight – among other things.”
For years, women were denied entry to the Olympics at all and later for many individual events or from different nations; the Paris Games aims to put women front and centre with this grand finale ahead of the closing ceremony.
Paris Olympics athletes will win medals made from pieces of Eiffel Tower
12:20
Karl Matchett
Podium finishers at the upcoming Paris Olympics will be rewarded with a piece of the Eiffel Tower, organisers said on Thursday, unveiling the event’s medals which are set with hexagon-shaped tokens forged out of scrap metal from the monument.
The idea was to link the Games with symbols of France, said Thierry Reboul, creative director of Paris 2024.
“The absolute symbol of Paris and France is the Eiffel Tower,” said Reboul. “It’s the opportunity for the athletes to bring back a piece of Paris with them.”
Designed by jeweller Chaumet, the 18-gram hexagon tokens, representing the shape of France, are made of iron from past refurbishments of the Tower stored for years in a warehouse whose location is secret.
The Chinese swimming doping scandal casting doubt at the Paris Olympics
12:00
Karl Matchett
Swimming has been rocked in 2024 after the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and its handling of positive test results from China’s swimming team before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The story, reported by the New York Times and German news organization ARD, surrounds 23 Chinese swimmers, 11 of whom will compete at the Paris Olympics, testing positive for the heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ) during a training camp seven months out from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Zhang Yufei, a gold medalist in the women’s 200-meter butterfly and 200-meter freestyle relay, and Wang Shun, who won gold in the men’s 200-meter individual medley, are among those ready to compete in Paris, reports NBC. Crucially, the results only came to light this year, with the China Anti-Doping Agency (Chinada) claiming that the swimmers unintentionally ingested the substance because of contamination.
There have been accusations that some national associations have performed cover-ups countered with “fake news” replies by China. While there is anger after the doping agency cleared the Chinese swimmers but banned Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who also claimed contamination with TMZ before competing at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.
Here’s how the scandal came to light and what we know ahead of the Paris Olympics:
Paris 2024 Olympics full schedule and day-by-day events
11:40
Karl Matchett
The 2024 Olympics in Paris officially begins with the opening ceremony on Friday 26 July, setting off a two-and-a-half-week festival of sport which comes to an end on Sunday 11 August.
Three years on from the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games, Paris 2024 will see a new sport, breakdancing (or breaking), added to the mix. Other modern additions like 3x3 basketball, BMX, surfing, skateboarding and climbing all retain their spots in the schedule, but karate and baseball have been dropped.
Then there are the traditional big draws to watch out for, like swimming (Sat 27 July to Sun 4 Aug), artistic gymastics (Sat 27 Jul to Mon 5 Aug), athletics (Thu 1 to Sun 11 Aug) and track cycling (Mon 5 Aug to Sat 10 Aug). With an extra day of swimming on the schedule, it means the middle Olympic weekend will feature swimming, gymnastics and athletics across both days for the first time.
In total there are 32 sports, with some further broken down into separate disciplines making 48 in total. All together there will be 329 events – and therefore 329 gold medals to fight for.
Here is a closer look at the full day-by-day schedule for the Games, including every session for every sport:
Paris 2024 - Olympics latest news
11:20
Karl Matchett
When it gets to this point, we usually have to turn the clock back four years to take a glimpse in the rearview mirror at what came beforehand and the last Olympic Games. Not so this year: Tokyo was delayed and Covid-ringfenced and only three years back, a strange event for those present and yet one Team GB fared pretty well at.
They finished fourth in the medal table, 22 golds putting them ahead of ROC (remember ROC?!) and a haul of 64 medals in total - 20 silvers, 22 bronzes) meaning they won more overall than Japan, who finished third in the table with 27 golds.
Eight nations won a single bronze, six won just one silver and nothing else, while three nations in Bermuda, Morocco and Puerto Rico took home precisely one gold.
Lots and lots of flowers, medals...and face masks.
The next Anthony Joshua? Team GB’s six boxers face daunting task at Paris Olympics
11:00
Karl Matchett
After three Olympic boxing qualifiers during a year of pain, a dozen broken hearts, bad decisions, tears, sweat and blood, the first bell for the British boxers at Paris 2024 is finally close.
Six members of the Team GB squad will be in Friday’s draw for the preliminary bouts in the thirteen weights that are spread across fourteen days of boxing. No other Olympic sport competes over the same number of days.
It is a mixed squad, a small squad compared to those from the last three Olympic boxing tournaments; the cycle has only been three years and since winning six medals in Tokyo in 2021, ten of the team of eleven have turned professional. There are other reasons that British boxers will only be competing in six of the thirteen weights in Paris, but too often the valid obstructions and distractions can sound like excuses; there are no excuses, it is hard to qualify for the Olympics.
Steve Bunce on GB’s medal hopes in the ring:
Tickets still unsold for Olympic opening ceremony and 100m finals at Paris 2024
10:45
Karl Matchett
Thousands of tickets are still available for a number of marquee events at the Olympics with just days until the opening ceremony at Paris 2024.
Organisers have confirmed that between 500,000 and 600,000 tickets were still able to be purchased on Sunday afternoon, five days before the Games opens with a glitzy procession down the River Seine.
That included the sessions that feature the men’s and women’s 100 metres, athletics’ blue riband events, which would usually sell out well in advance of the start of the quadrennial spectacular.
Prices and details here if you’re considering a late charge to the capital of France for a headline event:
Paris 2024 - Olympics latest news
08:42
Karl Matchett
Good morning and welcome to the Independent’s coverage of the Olympic Games starting in Paris this week!
As ever, many of the world’s finest athletes will come together to compete for medals across a fortnight of thrilling action across multiple sporting disciplines on track, field and water events, individual and team competitions.
Team GB’s preparations are almost complete as they seek to build on a haul of 64 medals won in Tokyo three summers ago.
This time around the Games will look very different to that Covid-affected time, of course!
