” Olympics starts with early matches ahead of opening ceremony ”

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PARIS: Ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony scheduled for Saturday (tomorrow), several matches across different sports have already commenced, signaling the start of competitions.

Football matches have already begun, including a Moroccan win over 2-1 over Argentina and and Spain’s 2-1 victory over Uzbekistan.

Read more: Olympics: Argentina beaten 2-1 by Morocco in chaotic match

In rugby sevens, Australia, Argentina, Fiji, Ireland, and New Zealand emerged victorious in their respective competitions.

A historic first for the Olympics, the opening ceremony will be hosted outside the stadium. It will span a 6 kilometer (km) stretch along the Seine River in central Paris. Delegations from all participating countries will parade on boats during this unique event.

Read more: France struggles with its hijab rules for Olympics opening ceremony

Alongside other sports, all eyes are on the men’s and women’s 100 metres races. There is huge excitement over whether Italy’s Lamont Jacob can secure a second title following Usain Bolt’s retirement.

Fans are also eager to see if Jamaica’s Shelley Ann Fraser-Pryce can reclaim the 100m Olympic crown.

The 2024 Summer Olympics will take place in France from July 24 to August 11, centered in Paris. Several events were also spread across 16 other cities and one subsite in French Polynesia even.

This is third time France will host Olympics, after 1900 and 1924. Similarly, Paris became the second city to host Olympics thrice after London.

France was chosen to host Olympics 2024 in 2017 amidst bidding withdrawals. Paris Olympics has aimed to modernise with new sports while utilisiing a mix of existing venues across France.

Security preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympics involved collaborating with over 40 nations to safeguard the event amid global threats. Police officers from countries such as Germany, India, Ireland, Luxembourg, South Korea, Spain, the UAE, and the UK are deployed to support French authorities. The opening ceremony along the Seine River is planned to address safety concerns and manage security effectively.

The 2024 Olympics featured sports programmes with 32 disciplines across 329 events. Traditional Olympic sports such as aquatics (including artistic swimming, diving, marathon swimming, swimming, and water polo).

It also includes archery, athletics (with 48 events), badminton, basketball (including 3×3), boxing (13 events), canoeing (slalom and sprint), and cycling (BMX freestyle, BMX racing, mountain biking, road cycling, and track cycling).

Olympics will also feature equestrian (dressage, eventing, and jumping), fencing, field hockey, football, golf, gymnastics (artistic, rhythmic, and trampoline), handball, judo, and modern pentathlon.

Rowing, rugby sevens, sailing, shooting, skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball (both indoor and beach), weightlifting, and wrestling (both freestyle and Greco-Roman) will feature prominently at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Read more: Olympics: Video emerges of Olympic medallist whipping horse’s legs

Newer additions to the Olympic lineup include breaking (breakdance), as well as the returning sports of skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing from the 2020 Games.

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