Paris 2024 Olympic Games | Football, rugby sevens, handball: why are some events starting before the opening ceremony?

While the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has been set for Friday, July 26, some sports will begin their events earlier. Rugby sevens and football will start on the 24th and the women's handball on the 25th. Here are the details.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will officially get underway this Friday evening, July 26, with the traditional opening ceremony. However, rugby sevens, handball and football are scheduled to start before. There are many reasons for this, but when it comes to the world's most popular sport, the reason for this anticipation is first and foremost historical.

"Since the Barcelona 1992 Games, football has started ahead of the opening ceremony, Benjamin Ceugnart, Competitions Calendar Project Manager at Paris 2024, explains. What's more, the players can't play every day, so they need a recovery period of at least 48 hours.’ As a result, the men's teams will play on D-2 and the women's teams on D-1."

No eliminations before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

As far as handball and rugby sevens are concerned, the decision to start the competitions - even before the Olympic cauldron is lit - is a departure from tradition. "These sports usually start on the first day, the day after the ceremony, Benjamin Ceugnart points out. First of all, it's a question of overall programming to make the organisation of the competitions more fluid." There are many team sports tournaments, and this ability to organise them over a longer period is very welcome.

The other reason is that these two disciplines have to share their playing fields during the Olympic period. "Handball starts on D-1, for the women, because it will take place in a shared competition venue during the pools organised at the South Paris Arena 6, Benjamin Ceugnart explains. So we had to make sure we had enough time to guarantee the transition between handball and weightlifting, which will follow at this venue." Especially as the handball players will then play their finals at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, in Lille, taking over from the basketball players.

"It's exactly the same concept for rugby sevens, he continues. The competition also starts on D-2 because the Stade de France will then host the athletics." The group stages and, above all, the quarter-finals of the men's tournament will take place on Thursday, July 27.

"Under IOC rules, there is one principle that must be respected: no medals are awarded and no athletes are eliminated before the opening ceremony", Benjamin Ceugnart recalls. For this reason, the rugby sevens ranking matches and the final will take place on July 27, the day after the ceremony.