Konjički sport i takmičenje u preskakanju prepona će se održati u bašti Versaja Equestrian sports and show jumping will take place in the gardens of Versailles
The opening ceremony itself will also enter the annals of Olympic history. That’s because it will not be held in a stadium for the first time ever. Instead, competing athletes will board boats and ships and voyage down the Seine, which flows through several districts of Paris. If such a spectacular river-borne opening ceremony nonetheless proves impossible, the entire event will be relocated to the Gardens of the Trocadero or the national stadium. Breaking, popularly referred to as breakdancing, is a dance style that dates back to the 1970s and has been coming back into fashion in recent years. It will make its debut as an Olympic sport in Paris. It is interesting to note that as many as four of the sports that were add- ed to the programme in Tokyo 2020 have been retained for this year’s Games: they are skateboarding, BMX rac- ing, the aforementioned surfing and sport climbing. In contrast, the Olympic curtain has fallen on the sports of baseball and karate, much to the chagrin of Serbian ka- rate champion Jovana Preković, who won gold in Japan. Following bears, tigers and pandas, the mascot for Paris will not represent the animal kingdom. Instead, the French have selected the Phryge duo of mascots, mod- eled after the traditional red Phrygian caps worn during the French Revolution of 1789, when the monarchy was overthrown and replaced by the first French republic. Each Olympic medal contains a fragment of iron from the Eiffel Tower, which was constructed for the 1889 World’s Fair. The pieces of iron were cut from gird- ers and other parts of the tower that have been replaced during renovations carried out over the years and pre- served. In order to make this idea a reality, Paris 2024 engaged renowned French luxury jewellery manufactur- ers, who have embedded 18 grams of Eiffel Tower iron in each medal. Likewise, when you arrive in Paris, don’t worry if you don’t speak French. Workers of the city’s metro rail sys- tem will be equipped with hand-held translation devic- es – thanks to artificial intelligence, French will be trans- lated into 16 different languages. Serbian isn’t on offer, but you can choose English, Arabic, Korean and Man- darin, with text appearing on the screen and read aloud to visitors. More than 3,000 such devices will be availa- ble at all public transport stations in Paris.
EXACTLY ONE CENTURY LATER From surfing in Tahiti and Eiffel Tower fragments in medals, all the way to breaking Paris will host the world’s top athletes for the 33 rd edition of the Summer Olympic Games from 26 th July to 11 th August. Some 10,500 participants will compete in 32 different sports, vying for a total of 329 gold medals T he French are very well aware that the equals sign can be placed between tourism and sports, particularly given that their capital city has already hosted the Olympics twice, in 1900 and 1924. That’s why this time – ex- actly a century on from the last time – competition ven- ues will be set up all over Paris, marking some of the City of Lights’ greatest sights.
Equestrian sports and show jumping will take place in the gardens of Versailles and fencers will compete in the Grand Palace of the Champs-Élysées, while a beach volleyball court will be set up under the Eiffel Tower. Tri- athlon and marathon swimming are set to be organised in the Seine, with some 1.2 billion euros having been in- vested to clean the famous river. However, these plans remain uncertain for now. Some sports will nonetheless be “relocated” away from Paris. Olympic football matches, for instance, will take place in six regional cities, while the Mediterranean port city of Marseille will host the sailing competition. The group stage of the basketball tournament is due to be played in Lille, while one of the most interesting lo- cations is as far as 15,716 kilometres from Paris and will see surfers compete for gold on the South Pacific waves off the coast of Tahiti.
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