Paris Olympic Games expected to generate €10.7 billion

This year is the year of the Summer Olympic Games. The 2024 edition will be in Paris, France, from July 26th to August 11th. The French capital will host the event for the 3rd time, after hosting the 1900 and 1924 Olympics. It is equal to London for this feat.

The Paris Olympic cycle was the smallest in history. The preparation lasted only 3 years due to the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, which went from 2020 to 2021 due to the health risk caused by the covid-19 pandemic.

The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games will be on July 26. It will escape tradition. Instead of being held at the Olympic stadium, the ceremony will take place in the Trocadéro Gardens, with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Games organizers expect to receive up to 600,000 people for the opening. Of these, 30,000 will be located in a kind of temporary mini-stadium that will be built on site.

Another change is in the delegation parade. Instead of the Olympic lap, the athletes will arrive by boat on the River Seine. The route will be 6 km long and will pass through tourist attractions such as the Louvre Museum, Notre-Dame Cathedral and Place de la Concorde.

The closing ceremony will be at the Stade de France in Saint-Dennis on August 11. The stadium will also host athletics and rugby competitions.

Although the vast majority of sports will be played in the center of Paris or the metropolitan region of the French capital, some events will be spread across the country.

Versailles will host equestrian, modern pentathlon, golf and cycling (mountain bike, track and BMX) competitions. The football matches will be spread across 6 other cities: Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Saint-Étienne, Nice and Nantes. Part of the basketball and handball games will be held in Lille.

Surfing will be a separate event. Athletes will face the feared waves of Teahupoo, on the island of Tahiti, in French Polynesia (Oceania). It is more than 15,000 km away from Paris.

The games officially start on July 26th, but the competitions will kick off on the 24th. Football, rugby, archery and handball start earlier. Here is the calendar:

Olympics in numbers

The budget for the Paris Olympic Games is €4.4 billion (R$23.6 billion). According to the organizing committee, 96% of this amount came from the private sector and will be completely used for the Olympics. The other 4% will come from the public administration to organize the Paralympics, from August 28th to September 8th.

Around €1.2 billion of the cost to hold the Games comes from the IOC (International Olympic Committee). The figure includes the sale of TV broadcasting rights (€750 million) and partner companies of the entity (€470 million).

Ticket sales are expected to bring €1.1 billion to the coffers of the event's organizing committee. While the sum of sponsorships is expected to reach €1.3 billion.

The investment should pay off – a lot. Paris wait raise up to €10.7 billion (R$57.8 billion) and create more than 250,000 jobs with the Olympics in Ile-de-France, the region that encompasses the capital.

There are more than 10 million tickets for sale. According to the organization, prices will leave from €24 (R$130). More than half of the tickets will be sold for up to €50 (R$270). Buy here. The official website of the 2024 Olympic Games also offers travel packages, including accommodation and tickets. They range from €495 to €33,220 per person.

Flights, departing from São Paulo, are sold from R$4,800, round trip, directly by the airlines.

Medal board

The United States delegation opens the year as the favorite to top the medal table in Paris, but has the Chinese on its heels. According to a projection made by Nielsen (complete – PDF – 5 MB) points out that the North Americans will win 126 medals, 37 of which are gold. The forecast for China is 35 gold medals and 78 medals in total.

At the Olympic Games, the medal table is defined by the number of golds. The tie is broken by the number of silvers and bronzes, respectively. The total number does not matter.

The USA has been ahead of the table in 6 of the last 7 Summer Olympics. Since Atlanta-1996, the country has only failed to top the table in 2008, when the games were held in Beijing, the capital of China, when the home team stood out.

The performance in athletics and swimming weighs in favor of the USA, the 2 sports that distribute the most medals: 48 and 35, respectively. According to Nielsen's forecast, 48% of North American podiums will come in these two categories.

In addition to collective success, the USA has individual talents such as gymnast Simone Biles, who should arrive in Paris as a candidate for 6 medals, being favorite for gold in at least 4.

In team sports, the men's and women's basketball teams are almost certain to be at the top of the podium. The volleyball and doubles and beach volleyball teams could also be strong candidates for medals.

China, on the other hand, clings to sports in which it dominates, such as diving and table tennis. He should also secure some medals in artistic gymnastics, weightlifting, shooting and swimming.

France, which has the advantage of competing at home and having more pre-classified athletes, should close the top 3 of the medals table with a good gap to the rest of the list.

The French are projected to win 27 golds, which would tie the record set in 1900, at the 1st Olympics in Paris. In the last 5 editions, the country won no more than 11 gold medals.

The French should achieve 10 more podiums than Great Britain and Japan. The British delegation brings together English, Scottish and Welsh athletes. The Northern Irish compete under the Irish flag at the Olympics. The strength of King Charles III's country is in track cycling, rowing, swimming and boxing. The Japanese, on the other hand, are a powerhouse in judo and skateboarding.

Brazil seeks top 10

The projection places Brazil in 1st position, two above that achieved in Tokyo and 3rd above that obtained at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016. It places the country within the goal of reaching the unprecedented top 10.

Another record could be in the number of diamonds. Nielsen expects Brazil to climb to the top of the podium 9 times, surpassing the 7 victories in 2021 and 2016. The total number of medals should fall slightly in relation to Tokyo, from 21 to 20.

Brazilian athletes have great chances of medals in skateboarding and surfing. In the 1st, there were 3 silvers in 2021. Skateboarder Rayssa Leal is favorite for gold in 2024. Men's surfing has been dominated by Brazil for years. Current two-time world champion Filipe Toledo tops the list. Three-time champion Gabriel Medina still has a chance to qualify. The current Olympic champion, Ítalo Ferreira, is out.

Gymnast Rebeca Andrade will be the big star of the delegation. She fights for 4 or 5 medals, being the favorite in diving, a discipline in which she is the current Olympic champion and two-time world champion. Isaquias Queiroz (canoeing) and Ana Marcela Cunha (water marathon) will also arrive in Paris with a chance to defend their titles.

Brazil will also be strong in boxing, football and volleyball (indoor and beach). Sports that have brought the most Brazilian medals in history – judo and sailing – can bring more podiums.

Other highlights may come from sports in which Brazil has never medaled. In table tennis, Hugo Calderano has real chances. He is now 5th in the world rankings, behind 4 Chinese – only 2 of them can go to the Paris Olympics.

Marcus D'Almeida is another candidate for breaking the taboo. He is the current champion of the Archery World Cup and has reached the podium in the last 2 world championships in the sport. The Brazilian archer leads the world rankings.

Women's tennis could make history again. He can repeat his 2021 podium in doubles and achieve something unprecedented in singles. The big star is Beatriz Haddad Maia (11th in the world ranking). She should form a pair with Luísa Stefani, bronze in Tokyo and top 20 on the list of doubles.