Paris 2024 Olympic will usher in a ‘new era’, says IOC. Here’s what will change

The 2024 Paris Olympics will usher in the ‘Games of a New Era’, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said

The 2024 Paris Olympics will usher in the ‘Games of a New Era’, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said, adding that it will serve as the blueprint for future editions of the Olympic Games and inspire other major events.

The Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 are the first to be planned and delivered fully in line with the reforms of the Olympic Agenda 2020 and Olympic Agenda 2020+5 from start to finish.

The Olympic Games have benefitted significantly from Olympic Agenda 2020+5 and Olympic Agenda 2020, the committee said. “This was already evident at Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 and is now on full display in the preparations for the Olympic Games Paris 2024,” it added.

The IOC on October 9 released the Olympic Agenda 2020+5 Midway Report Highlights ahead of the upcoming 141st IOC Session in Mumbai. This document, published as Olympic Agenda 2020+5, was adopted in March 2021 as the strategic roadmap of the IOC and the wider Olympic Movement to guide the committee’s work through to 2025.

Here are some significant changes to look out for:

Gender equality on the field of play

In a first, the IOC has allocated quota places equally – 50 percent female and 50 percent male.

Striving for gender balance, the IOC has achieved significant female representation in governance, i.e., as of February 2023, 40 percent of IOC members are women and – for the first time in history – 50 percent of IOC commission positions are occupied by women.

Sustainable Games

Paris 2024 will be the first Games aligned with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Paris 2024 plans to set new sustainability standards for major sporting events, cutting the Games’ carbon footprint by half compared to the average of London 2012 and Rio 2016. Ninety-five percent of the infrastructure is either already existing or temporary and 100 percent of the energy used for the Games is planned from renewable energy sources.

More urban games

Competitions will take place at iconic landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde and Pont Alexandre III. The Opening Ceremony will be held in the heart of the city with the River Seine as the stage to welcome the best athletes of the world, while hundreds of thousands of people will watch from the riverbank.

More inclusive

Spectators will also get the opportunity to be participants. The “Marathon Pour Tous” will afford 40,000 runners the unique experience of running the same marathon on the same day and on the same course as the Olympic marathon runners. Paris 2024 is already inspiring the population to get active. The “Terre de Jeux 2024” label has been awarded to 4,000 cities and regions across France, inspiring millions of people to play sports.

The IOC is promoting these Games as the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, demonstrating true inclusivity. Paris 2024 will see youthful Olympic and Paralympic Games and include sports with youth appeal. Breaking has been added to the programme, while sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding are also on the programme after their success at Tokyo 2020.

Solidarity

The principle of solidarity is the very essence of the Olympic Movement, a light to guide our way towards building a better world through sport, IOC said. The budget of the Olympic Solidarity plan for 2021-2024 was increased by 16 percent, bringing its budget for assistance and development to $590 million, including a 25 percent rise in athlete support programmes such as athlete scholarships, training and education.

A Mental Health Action Plan has also been established for the benefit of athletes, coaches and support staff.

Further, the IOC, in collaboration with several IFs, has launched the Women in Sports High-Performance Pathway (WISH) programme, a new mentorship and training programme to help female coaches progress into high-performance coaching roles at national, continental and international competitions.

Additionally, the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF) has launched new programmes in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Colombia, France, Jordan, and Türkiye.

Digitalisation

The IOC has consolidated its digital properties into Olympics.com, and its social media channels into @olympics accounts across 12 platforms. In 2021, the IOC piloted the first-ever Olympic Virtual Series, with more than 240,000 unique participants from more than 100 countries competing in five esports disciplines. The success of this event resulted in the Olympic Esports Series, in which 500,000 unique participants competed in 10 esports disciplines.

This year, the IOC partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO) on Olympic Day in the #LetsMove initiative, a campaign to promote healthy lifestyles and encourage people to participate in sport.

Sustainable Development

In line with the Paris Agreement, the IOC has set itself a carbon emission reduction goal of 30 percent by 2024 and 50 percent by 2030. As of 2023, 266 global sports organisations have endorsed the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, launched by the UN in collaboration with the IOC.

In addition to reducing emissions, the IOC is creating the Olympic Forest, part of the Great Green Wall initiative, which restores degraded landscapes across Africa’s Sahel region. In 2022, with the Olympic Movement increasing its commitment to fight climate change and preserve the natural environment, the IOC launched the Olympic Forest Network.

Credibility

In a bid to prioritise credibility on and off the field of play, the IOC in 2022, updated the Basic Universal Principles of Good Governance Within the Olympic Movement (BUPGG) to include clarification of the principle of accountability beyond the financial aspect, voting and elections processes, and transparency. The sections on anti-doping, competition manipulation, safeguarding, reporting mechanisms and education have also been further developed. A fund of $10 million has been created to strengthen safe sport at the local level.

The IOC has developed and is rolling out a Strategic Framework on Human Rights too and has set up an Advisory Committee on Human Rights. This includes obligations on hosts for the Olympic Games to comply with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

The IOC continues to ensure the Olympic Movement’s involvement in the International Partnership against Corruption in Sport (IPACS). Further, it has allocated a fund of $10 million per Olympiad to continue to support work on preventing competition manipulation.