The wait is almost over. The Opening Ceremony of Paris 2024 is just 24 hours away. And that also means you have only a day to get ready for the world’s biggest sporting showpiece!
It’s been three years since the Olympic Cauldron was extinguished in Tokyo. Now, after a shortened cycle, the world’s top athletes are back on the Olympic Games stage, gathered in the French capital Paris for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
During the 17 days of the Games and two additional days of competition before the day of the Opening Ceremony, they will show the world the fruits of their hard work over the last three years, showcasing the best of friendship, excellence, and respect.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will showcase 3,800 hours of competitive sport and award 329 gold medals in 32 sports over 18 days of competition across the capital and in other parts of France.
The opening ceremony to signal the official start of the Paris 2024 Olympics will be held tomorrow Friday, 26 July. But the sporting action actually began yesterday, Wednesday, 24 July with matches in football, rugby sevens, handball and archery.
The ambitious opening ceremony will, interestingly, take place along the River Seine instead of in a stadium. Nigeria will be represented by a total of 88 athletes who will compete in eleven sports, namely, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, football, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling.
Nigeria’s squad in athletics is led by the country’s brightest hope for gold medal in the sprint hurdles and world record holder, Oluwatobiloba Amusan. Other notable names in the squad are Rosemary Chukwuma, Favour Ofili, Tima Godbless, Ella Onojuvwevwo in women’s 400m and Esther Joseph.
Also in the mix are Ruth Usoro (Women’s long jump); Ese Brume (Women’s Long jump); Prestina Oluchi Ochoogor, Obiageri Amaechi (Women’s discus); Ashley Anumba, Chioma Onyekwere, Oyesade Olatoye (Women’s hammer throw); Women’s 4×100 metres Relay and Mixed 4×400 metres relay.
Team Nigeria will be fielding 20 males and 62 females at the Paris games and it seems clearly that the Nigerian women have eclipsed the men in terms of medal prospects as the country bids to surpass its best Olympic performance, achieved at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
While the men’s football team are conspicuously missing in Paris 2024, their female counterpart, the Super Falcons return to the Olympic football event after several years absence. However, the Falcons are in a tough group with champions Spain, Brazil and former world champions Japan.
Another female team, D’Tigress will also aim to better their record in the female basketball event. In boxing, Nigeria will parade three pugilists to be led by Olaitan Olaore, who aims for a good show in men’s heavyweight, Dolapo Omole, who will compete in men’s featherweight category and Cynthia Ogunsemilore, who fights in the women’s lightweight class. It is worthy of note that, for the first time since 2016, Nigeria will send three boxers to the Olympics.
Also, Team Nigeria will have high hopes in weightlifting relying on the form of Rafiatu Lawal and Adijat Olarinoye.
The 24-year-old Olarinoye is not new on the world stage as she has earlier won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham two years ago.
In other sports Nigeria will have two women in Canoeing, one female representative in Cycling while Aruna Quadri with Olajide Omotayo will lead the men in table tennis alongside Offiong Edem and Fatima Bello in the women’s category.
These athletes, along with many others, are set to showcase their talent and make Nigeria proud on the global stage, I hereby wish them the very best of luck.
There are 329 gold medal events at Paris 2024 with a whopping 39 medals to be won on the penultimate day of competition, Saturday, August 10.
The first medal of the Games will be in shooting – mixed team air rifle – and that is expected to be won on Saturday, July 27, while the final medal will be awarded in women’s basketball on Sunday, August 11.
The only new sport for the 2024 Olympics is breaking. It is a style of dance that originated in the Bronx in New York, United States during the 1970s but has evolved to become a competitive sport.
But who are the top stars to watch in the Paris games? Well, I am looking forward to watching some of the best athletes (and teams) in a range of events, but will be more interested in the performances of the superstars.
As a pan-Africanist, my eyes will be on Faith Kipyegon, the Kenyan who won the 5,000m at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023. No athlete has had a more remarkable 2023 in athletics than Kipyegon, who set world records in three distances and won two gold medals at the World Championships.
After winning gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics and again five years later in Tokyo, the Kenyan, who was voted Athlete of the Year in 2023, could win more than one medal in Paris, perhaps in the 1,500m and 5,000m.
After a two-year hiatus, American gymnastics superstar Simone Biles arrives in Paris, possibly as the main attraction of the 2024 Games.
The four-time Olympic gold medalist was destined to be the standout figure at the last Summer Olympics in Tokyo, only to dramatically withdraw from most of her events due to a debilitating temporary spatial awareness condition known as ‘the twisties.’
The brilliant and diminutive athlete, who has five routines named after her, made an explosive return to the international stage at last October’s World Gymnastics Championships, winning four gold medals.
Yours truly along with millions of followers and sports fans around the world, will be eager to see her signature smile shine from the top of the podium for the first time at the Olympics since Rio 2016.
On the tennis court, all eyes will be on Spanish phenom Carlos Alcaaez, who is on a stunning run form, winning the French Open and the Wimbledon title this year. With his lightning-fast groundstrokes, relentless court coverage, and ice-cool demeanor, Alcaraz has been hailed as the next great Spanish tennis champion, drawing comparison to Rafael Nadal. In Paris, he will be the odds-on favorite to capture the Olympic gold medal and cement his status as the future of men’s tennis. Coco Gauff (Tennis):e top
These are just a few of the many superstars set to take center stage at the 2024 Paris Olympics. From the swimming pool to the track, the gymnastics mat to the tennis court, a cast of athletic talent is poised to capture the world’s attention and cement their place in the pantheon of Olympic greatness. The Olympic Games in Paris promise to be a showcase of sports heroes and heroines, with a host of old and fresh faces eager to make their mark on the world’s biggest stage.
