Paris 2024 Olympic Games: what will be the first event to open the Games, even before the start of the opening ceremony ?

Paris 2024: Venues MAXPPP – Mickael Chavet

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will begin ahead of the opening ceremony. Find out which event will open the 33rd Olympiad.

It is customary to say that the Olympic Games officially begin when the cauldron is lit, following the opening ceremony. But in reality, the Olympics start a few days before.

The reason is quite simple: certain sports, such as football, rugby sevens or archery, require starting earlier. Either for calendar constraints, or to have sufficient recovery time between meetings.

Football to open the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

The first match of these Games will take place at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Étienne, where Argentina and Morocco will face each other (3 p.m.). A few hundred kilometers away, Spain will face Uzbekistan at the same time, at the Parc des Princes.

🚨🗼 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗘𝗟 ! 𝗟𝗘𝗦 𝗗𝗜𝗙𝗙𝗘́𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗣𝗘𝗦 𝗗𝗘𝗦 𝗝𝗘𝗨𝗫 𝗢𝗟𝗬𝗠𝗣𝗜𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦 𝗗𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗦 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 ! ⤵️

La France héritera du Groupe A, assez prenable. 😁🇫🇷

Vainqueur de la CAN U23, le Maroc affrontera l'Argentine, l'Ukraine et un pays asiatique.… pic.twitter.com/IfbhiO6QAv

— Instant Foot ⚽️ (@lnstantFoot) March 20, 2024

Men's rugby sevens will then take over and animate the two days preceding the opening ceremony.

The round ball regularly opens the Games

Since the Beijing Games in 2008, football has opened the Olympic Games three times. In 2012, the women's team of Argentina faced that of Morocco, while the Rio 2016 Olympics began with an opposition between the men's teams of Mexico and Germany.

Also read: Paris 2024 Olympic Games: times, discipline, location… discover the complete program, day by day, of the Olympic Games

At the Tokyo 2021 Games, the organizers opted for a softball match between Australia and Japan.