Six months to Paris 2024: anticipation grows for the return of the Olympic Games to Europe

Six months. The Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is exactly half a year away.

The world's most important sporting event is returning to Europe: it will be the third time that the capital of France (photo Olympics - Philippe Millereau / KMSP) has staged the event, thus joining London as the city that has hosted most editions.

Unlike the last time round, in Tokyo, spectators will return from every corner of the planet. The public will be able to move around comfortably on foot or by public transport, as 80% of the competition venues are located within 10 km of the Olympic Village.

It will be an extraordinary event and for the first time there will be total gender parity: 5,250 men and 5,250 women will compete for eternal glory from 26 July to 11 August. There will be competitions in 32 sports, including the brand new break dance category, and no less than 329 medal events.

Competition in some sports will take place in iconic Parisian locations: beach volleyball at the Champ de Mars (under the Eiffel Tower), urban sports at La Concorde, fencing and taekwondo at the Grand Palais, the start of the Marathon at the Hotel de Ville. But the whole of France will be the protagonist, as the football tournament will be played in Bordeaux, Nantes, Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Nice and Marseille, sailing will be in Marseille, and Lille will also host team sports. For the first time, the Games will also be staged in the French territory of Tahiti, where the surfing competition will take place on the legendary Teahupoo waves of the Pacific island, located some 15,000 km from Paris.

At the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, which for the first time will be held on the Seine river instead of inside a stadium, the large Italia team contingent will, naturally, be present.

At the moment there are 104 Azzurri qualified for the Games (18 individual passes, 86 nation places), a number that is destined to grow considerably following the numerous qualifying competitions in the programme and the closure of Olympic rankings across various disciplines.

Six more months of waiting, then it will be showtime: Paris 2024 is approaching.