Around The World: The Olympic Games

With 2024 beginning as a year to remember, with so much to look ahead to, it is time to contrastingly look to the past. This article will take you back before looking at the future of one of the world’s premiere sporting events: ‘The Olympic Games’. This year, Paris, a sprawling metropolitan European capital, is set to host the games. In a highly poetic fashion, it is exactly 100 years since Paris last hosted the modern Olympic Games in 1924.

In a highly poetic fashion, it is exactly 100 years since Paris last hosted the modern Olympic Games in 1924.

The programme at the time, beginning in May and ending in July, included a total of 126 events over 23 disciplines, with 44 different nations competing. Comparatively, the 2024 Summer Olympics will host 329 events across 32 disciplines, with a total of 206 nations competing. This serves as an advertisement for how the majesty and scope of the event has evolved over time.

Since the modern Olympics began just under 150 years ago in Athens (1896) record changes in the structure of the games, as well as the surrounding culture and atmosphere, have taken place. In this time five nations have put forth athletes at every modern games, these being France, Australia, Greece, Switzerland and Great Britain. Of the competing nations, France and the United States normally contribute the most athletes, with both countries totalling record numbers, at 466 and 492 respectively, this year.

In the 21^st century, destinations for the Olympic Games have coincided with some of the most sought-after tourist destinations from across the globe, from Athens to Beijing, London to Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro. The most watched Olympics in history ended up being on home soil, with the London 2012 Summer Olympics being watched by a total of 3.6 billion viewers worldwide. However, the record for the most attended modern Olympic games of all time belongs to America, with 8.3 million tickets sold for what was referred to as the ‘Centennial Olympics’ in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Destinations for the Olympic Games have coincided with some of the most sought-after tourist destinations from across the globe

Since the initiation of the modern Olympic Games, a swathe of changes and adaptions have taken place. This year also marks the centenary of the first Winter Olympic Games, a later addition to the games, which was also initially launched in France in Chamonix. As well as this, a raft of new sports have been added since the games’ incarnation, with further sports continuing to be added every year. This year, four new sports, including break dancing, sports climbing, skateboarding and surfing have been added to the Olympics.

The 2024 games will cost France a total $8.3 billion dollars and be hosted across a total of 63 towns that will accommodate the athletes, officials, spectators and journalists reporting on the event. With more events and more countries participating than ever before, the stage is set for this to be a truly unique global event. As we drawer nearer to the Olympics I would therefore encourage you to jump in a car, board a coach or hop on a train and make your way there.

With more events and more countries participating than ever before, the stage is set for this to be a truly unique global event.

Beginning on Friday the 26^th of July and lasting for just over two weeks, the trip will be a once in a lifetime getaway; to view all the triumphs, upsets, roaring cheers and stunned silences of the games this Summer. As ticket resales begin in May, it may be time to open up laptops and type into phone search engines to purchase those much-awaited passes to your favourite sporting events. With the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics promising to be one to remember, you won’t regret you did.