Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games: why is the athletics track at the Stade de France purple?

After the walking races, the athletics events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games kick off this Friday 2 August at the Stade de France. For the occasion, the Saint-Denis stadium will be showing off its brand new purple track for the first time in competition. Here are some explanations.

This year, the tartan on the athletics track - which kicks off this Friday 2 August at the Stade de France - of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has a special feature: its colour. While it is usually red or blue, this time it will be purple. Unveiled several months ago, this hue, which is likely to make quite an impact during the first television broadcasts, was decided by Paris 2024 in collaboration with the requirements of World Athletics and OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services), which is responsible for producing the images of the competitions.

There were several reasons why the organisers opted for purple. Firstly, the decision to make history by making this the first competition to be held on a track of this purple colour. "This will allow the images of the Paris 2024 Games to be engraved in the memories of spectators, television viewers and athletes alike", explained a press release, while the Italian firm Mondo was commissioned to produce the 13,000 m² track.

Purple at the Paris 2024 Games for better television coverage

More specifically, two shades of purple (a lighter one for the track and competition areas themselves, and a darker one for the technical areas) have been used to colour the facilities at the Stade de France. A complementary grey colour was chosen for the outside of the bends, in a historic nod to the asphalt track used in Paris in 1924.

The decision to opt for violet was also the result of discussions with OBS: this colour provides a better television experience, with contrasts that highlight the athletes.

"We had to work hard on the colours, so that the shades would work best to highlight the athletes. It's a track, it has to be pretty, but above all it's a stage on which the athletes are going to perform. What's very important is that the colours and the athletes stand out", Alain Blondel, Athletics and Para Athletics Manager for Paris 2024, told Olympics.com last April.