With two years until Paris 2024, IOC President looks ahead to “new era” of Olympic Games
With two years to go until the Olympic Games Paris 2024 begin, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach expressed his sense of anticipation for a “new era” of the Olympic Games. This followed his meeting yesterday with French President Emmanuel Macron and a visit to the Paris 2024 offices.
Speaking about today’s milestone, Bach said: “In two years’ time, the world will be welcomed to Paris for what will be a new era for the Olympic Games – gender-balanced, with a young and urban sports programme, new experiences and a new generation of Olympians and Olympic fans. Enriched by the unique cultural and warm hospitality of the French people, we are all looking forward to what will be momentous Games. I wish all the athletes that are on the road to Paris good luck in their Olympic qualifications.”
Looking ahead, Bach continued: “Driven by their creativity, ability to adapt and professionalism, the progress being made by the Paris 2024 organisers gives us great confidence. Paris 2024 is embracing the recommendations of Olympic Agenda 2020. Sustainability, legacy and inclusion are at the heart of their strategy, which, with two years to go, is already contributing to the positive impact the Games are having before competition has even begun.”
Today’s milestone marks the start of the official countdown to the Games, with more than 100,000 athletes across the world now turning their attention towards qualification. Over the next two years, more than 3,000 Olympic qualification events will take place. For the first time in the history of such events, many of them will be identifiable by the Paris 2024 Qualifier label, introduced at the Street Skateboarding Championships in Rome last month. This is driven by the goal of supporting, celebrating and elevating athletes on their road to the Olympic Games, as laid out in Olympic Agenda 2020+5.
Paris 2024 also released the sports calendar by event, outlining which sports and disciplines will be taking place when, and the Games slogan yesterday.
The Olympic Games Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony will take place on 26 July, with the Games ending on 11 August. The Paralympic Games Paris 2024 will then be held from 28 August until 8 September.
The International Olympic Committee is a not-for-profit, civil, non-governmental, international organisation made up of volunteers which is committed to building a better world through sport. It redistributes more than 90 per cent of its income to the wider sporting movement, which means that every day the equivalent of USD 4.2 million goes to help athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world.
For more information, please contact the IOC Media Relations Team:
Tel: +41 21 621 6000, email: pressoffice@olympic.org, or visit our web site at www.ioc.org.
Broadcast quality footage
The IOC Newsroom: http://iocnewsroom.com/
Videos
YouTube: www.youtube.com/iocmedia
Photos
For an extensive selection of photos available shortly after each event, please follow us on Flickr.
To request archive photos and footage, please contact our Images team at: images@olympic.org.
Social media
For up-to-the-minute information on the IOC and regular updates, please follow us on Twitter and YouTube.