Olympics 2024: Paris schedule, sports, dates, opening ceremony and latest on Russian athletes
Find out everything you need to know about the Paris 2024 Olympics including the schedule and what sports will take place as millions of fans from around the world tune in for over two weeks of drama
Last Updated: 25/07/24 3:14pm
Drama and excitement will be guaranteed at the 2024 Olympic Games as 32 sports and 206 countries come together on the world stage.
Follow 2024 Olympics news and live updates in our dedicated blog and find out more about the biggest sporting event of the summer below.
Where is the 2024 Summer Olympics?
Paris will host the 33rd Summer Olympics after the city was awarded the Games seven years ago.
The French capital is just the second city to host three Olympic Games, having held the biggest sporting event in 1900 and 1924. London is the other city to hold that feat.
- New sports and events at the Olympics
- Stream Sky Sports with NOW Sports Month Membership
- Get news and analysis from Sky Sports on WhatsApp
When is the 2024 Paris Olympics?
The 2024 Paris Olympics takes place from Friday July 26 to Sunday August 11.
However, there is sporting action two days prior to the Opening Ceremony on July 26, as football, rugby sevens, handball and archery get under way on July 24 and 25.
What sports are in the Olympics?
Aquatics
- Artistic swimming (August 5-10)
- Diving (July 27 to August 10)
- Marathon swimming (August 8-9)
- Swimming (July 27 to August 4)
- Water polo (July 27 to August 11)
Archery (July 25 to August 4)
Athletics (August 1 to August 11)
Badminton (July 27 to August 5)
Basketball
- Basketball (July 27 to August 11)
- 3×3 basketball (July 30 to August 5)
Boxing (July 27 to August 4)
Breaking (August 9 to August 10)
Canoeing
- Slalom (July 27 to August 4)
- Sprint (August 6-10)
Cycling
- BMX freestyle (July 30-31)
- BMX racing (August 1-2)
- Mountain biking (July 28-29)
- Road (July 27, August 3-4)
- Track (August 5-11)
Equestrian
- Dressage (July 30-31 and August 3-4)
- Eventing (July 27-29)
- Jumping (August 1-2 and 5-6)
Fencing (July 27 to August 4)
Field hockey (July 27 to August 9)
Football (July 24 to August 10)
Golf (August 1-4 and 7-10)
Gymnastics
- Artistic (July 27 to August 5)
- Rhythmic (August 8-10)
- Trampoline (August 2)
Handball (July 25 to August 11)
Judo (July 27 to August 3)
Modern pentathlon (August 8-11)
Rowing (July 27 to August 3)
Rugby sevens (July 24-30)
Sailing (July 28 to August 8)
Shooting (July 27 to August 5)
Skateboarding July 27-28 and August 6-7)
Sport climbing (August 5-10)
Surfing (July 27-30)
Table tennis (July 27 to August 10)
Taekwondo (August 7-10)
Tennis (July 27 to August 4)
Triathlon (July 30, 31 and August 5)
Volleyball
- Volleyball (July 27 to August 11)
- Beach volleyball (July 27 to August 10)
Weightlifting (August 7 to August 11)
Wrestling
- Freestyle (August 5-11)
- Greco-Roman (August 5-8)
Breakdancing to make Olympics debut
Breaking, which is better known as breakdancing, is the only sport to debut in Paris.
Sixteen B-Boys and 16 B-Girls will compete against each other in solo battles with gold medals for each category.
Skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were introduced in Tokyo and will return this summer, while karate has been dropped.
Baseball/softball will also not take place but will be back at Los Angeles in 2028.
When and where is the opening ceremony?
Instead of the traditional march into the stadium, more than 10,000 athletes will parade on around 100 boats for almost four miles down Paris' Seine river.
The ceremony is due to start with the firing pistol at 6.30pm BST on Friday, July 26 and is set to last more than three hours.
Athletes on board the boats will catch glimpses of key sites including the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame, as well as several Olympic venues including La Concorde Urban Park (3X3 basketball, breaking, BMX freestyle cycling, skateboarding), Invalides (archery, athletics - marathon finish, road cycling - time trial start) and the Grand Palais (fencing, taekwondo).
The parade ends at the Iena Bridge, which links the Eiffel Tower on the left bank of the Seine to the Trocadero district on the right bank. There, French President Emmanuel Macron will deliver opening remarks.
In addition to the athletes, 3,000 dancers, artists and other athletes will be featured in the opening and closing ceremonies.
Entertainment is being kept under wraps, but Celine Dion and Lady Gaga have arrived in Paris amid speculation that they will perform.
About 220,000 invited and security-screened spectators are expected to fill the upper tiers of the Seine's banks, and an additional 104,000 paying spectators will watch from the lower riverside.
According to the latest weather forecast, there is a small chance of rain. Meteo-France, the French weather service, has warned that showers could hit the Paris region in the evening. If it rains, the ceremony is expected to go on as planned...
The closing ceremony on August 11 will take place at the Stade de France, which will host athletics during the Games.
What happened in Tokyo 2020?
Tokyo was the first Olympics to be rescheduled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so took place in 2021.
Nearly every event was held behind closed doors as the United States narrowly topped the medal table with 39 golds to China's 38.
Host nation Japan had their best Games in third with Great Britain in fourth on 22 golds, 20 silvers and 22 bronze.
Highlights for Team GB included Adam Peaty becoming the first swimmer from the country to defend his Olympic title in the men's 100m breastroke while Tom Dean and Duncan Scott took a stunning one-two in the men's 200m freestyle event. Scott won four medals in Tokyo, the most of any athlete in a single Games in terms of medals.
Sky Brown became the youngest Team GB medallist in skateboarding at 13 years and 28 days. Brown was hoping to compete in skateboarding and surfing at this summer's Olympics but failed to qualify in the latter.
Elsewhere, track cyclist Laura Kenny became Britain's most decorated female Olympian when she won gold with Katie Archibald in the women's madison. Kenny retired in March 2024 to focus on her family and her husband Jason Kenny also retired after Tokyo.
Hannah Mills became Great Britain's most successful female Olympic sailor defending her Women's 470 title in Tokyo.
There was disappointment in athletics as Team GB came away with no gold medals for the first time since Atlanta 1996 but Keely Hodgkinson and Laura Muir secured silver medals in the 800m and 1500m respectively.
Galal Yafai and Lauren Price became Olympic boxing champions as Pat McCormack and Benjamin Whittaker took silvers, with Karriss Artingstall and Frazer Clarke bringing home bronze medals.
Are Russian athletes allowed at the Olympics?
The IOC has laid out a vetting procedure for Russian and Belarusian athletes to be granted neutral status, with requirements including that they must not have publicly supported the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special military operation", or be affiliated with military or state security agencies.
The IOC said it expects about 36 neutral athletes with Russian passports and 22 with Belarus passports to qualify for the Paris Games.
Any medals won by those athletes will not be included in any medal table and they will have a specifically composed anthem with no words.
In March 2024, it was announced that Russians and Belarusians will not take part in the parade of athletes at the opening ceremony.
The IOC said athletes from Russia and Belarus who are approved to compete at the Olympics as neutrals will have a chance only "to experience the event" - likely watching from near the river.
A decision on whether those athletes will be allowed to take part in the August 11 closing ceremony will be taken at a later stage.
How can you follow the Olympics on Sky Sports?
Sky Sports News will bring you the latest news and analysis from Paris this summer as part of our comprehensive digital coverage.
You can follow all of the biggest moments from the Olympics via our daily live blogs and reports, plus coverage on Sky Sports News.
