Everything you need to know about France's celebration sites for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024
Paris 2024 has unveiled its programme of celebrations in France for the next Olympics with its slogan as a watchword: “Games wide open”. Festivities will be organised throughout the country, so as many people as possible can have a close-up experience of the Games for free.
“Our motto is ‘Games Wide Open’ and this needs to be written into the celebrations for Paris 2024,” President of Paris 2024 Tony Estanguet said during a press conference highlighting the Organising Committee’s vision to involve the whole of France in the celebrations for the greatest sporting competition on earth.
This Monday 24 July, the celebration sites programme for the Olympic and Paralympic Games was revealed, where for four months, France will vibrate to the rhythm of Paris 2024.
Olympics.com previews what you can expect.
The Games all around Paris
Many celebration sites will be accessible in the French capital, the Champions Park at the Trocadéro in particular. Facing the Eiffel Tower, this spot will be the unmissable meeting location for all sports fans around the world to celebrate athletes’ achievements and medals. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Summer Games, all the medallists will be invited to commune with thousands of fans.
Club France will be located at Parc de la Villette, in the North-East of Paris, where all the French Olympic medallists will visit from 27 July to 11 August, and the Paralympic medallists from 29 August to 8 September 2024. More than 700,000 people are expected at Club France at La Villette to experience the Games together, with more than 300 hours of live broadcasts.
The festival Off des Jeux will echo the Olympic and Paralympic celebration everywhere in Paris. Popular with families due to its festive spirit, this free event will offer sporting and cultural activities but also catering, and screening of competitions.
Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, spoke about the city's desire to open up the celebrations to as many people as possible. “Paris wants Games-time to be a time of sharing. In that spirit, we want the celebration sites to be accessible to everyone."
Experiencing the Games in Île-de-France
The Seine and its canals will connect the celebrations, particularly via the Canal Saint-Denis, which has been completely renovated for the Games. The major connector between the Olympic and Paralympic venues starts from Club France at la Villette, then to the Stade de France, to the Aquatics Centre.
In Seine-Saint-Denis, a French department located in the North of Paris, several spaces will be set up at the park Georges-Valbon in la Courneuve to watch the Games, attend concerts, practise sporting activities or even discover the views from an 80m-high skyliner.
The entirety of France in Olympic and Paralympic colours
The hosting collectivities labelled 'Terre de Jeux 2024' have created a set of celebration sites hosting sporting, cultural and festive entertainments, entitled: Paris 2024 Clubs.
Most of the hosting collectivities will offer Paris 2024 Clubs, with at least one celebration site in each city hosting football events (Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Saint-Etienne, and Marseille) but also in Lille and in Tahiti, the latter where the surfing takes place.
“Since the beginning, we have been obsessed with releasing the magic of the Games, and we want these celebrations to be as open as possible,” said Estanguet, who as an athlete won three Olympic gold medals in canoe slalom.
“It's a very powerful thing to continue the celebrations with athletes and fans at Champions Park, in a location as prestigious as the Trocadero."
The Champions Park at the Trocadéro in Paris
Key dates and figures regarding celebrations of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
Key dates
- 4 months of celebration: from 8 May with the Olympic Torch Relay until the Closing Ceremony of the Paralympic Games on 8 September 2024
- 14 July 2024: Opening of Paris 2024 Club at Paris City Hall
- 25 July 2024: Opening of Paris 2024 Club at Parc Georges Valbon in La Courneuve to welcome the flame
- 26 July 2024: Opening Ceremony of Olympic Games Paris 2024 to be experienced in Paris 2024 Club all over France
- 27 July 2024: Opening of Club France at La Villette
- 29 July 2024: Opening of Champions Park at Trocadéro
- 28 August 2024: Opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 to be experienced in Paris 2024 Clubs everywhere in France and reopening of the Club France for the Paralympic period time
Key figures :
- 400 cities crossed by the Olympic Torch Relay across France
- Around 200 celebration sites*, free and accessible, to everyone everywhere in France during the Games
- Nearly 150,000 people expected at Champions Park
- Nearly 700,000 visitors expected at Club France over the entire Games duration
- Millions of French people in all Paris 2024 Clubs across France
* subject to local authorities' authorisations