Central Florida Celebrates the Paris Summer Olympic Games

Several Central Floridians are participating in the upcoming Paris Summer Olympic Games. Here’s a list of local Olympians to watch for:

*Perry Baker, Daytona Beach, Rugby

*Kenny Bednarek, Minneola, Track and Field

*Tamari Davis, Orlando, Track and Field

*Melissa Jefferson, Clermont, Track and Field

*Omari Jones, Orlando, Boxing

*Kyree King, Clermont, Track and Field

*Noah Lyles, Clermont, Track and Field

*Victor Montalvo, Kissimmee, Breaking

*Monae' Nicholes, Lakeland, Track and Field

*Sha'Carri Richardson, Clermont, Track and Field

*Donald Scott, Apopka, Track and Field

The 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games begin with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, July 26, at 1:30pm EST. The Olympic games will run through the closing ceremonies on Sunday, August 11th. But some competitions, such as football and rugby sevens, start before the opening ceremony.

Here’s some interesting facts to help prepare you for the upcoming Games:

*The founder of the modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, once said: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well."

* Paris 2024 will be the first Olympics in history to achieve numerical gender parity on the field of play, with an equal number of female and male athletes participating in the largest sporting event in the world. Out of the 10,500 athletes participating in the Games, 5,250 will be men and 5,250 women. Those 10,500 athletes will compete in 32 different sports and 339 events.

*This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Olympics returning to Paris after 100 years. Paris first hosted the Olympics in 1900 and then in 1924. While Paris is the main host city, events will be held in 16 other cities across metropolitan France and in Tahiti.

*The surfing event will be held 15,000km away in Tahiti, part of French Polynesia. That beats the record for the furthest event from a host city, set at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics when equestrian events were held in Stockholm due to quarantine restrictions.

*Soccer will be played in Lyon, Saint-Étienne, Nice, Marseille, Bordeaux, and Nantes. Shooting will be held in central France in Châteauroux. Lille will host basketball preliminaries and handball finals. And sailing events will be held off the coast of Marseille.

*Most of the estimated billions of spectators will watch the Olympics on television. NBC has the U.S. broadcasting rights, having paid $7.75 billion to air the Games from 2021 to 2032 on its network and its Peacock app. The flagship network is planning at least nine hours of live coverage daily, plus a prime time show packaging highlights. Tune in to Telemundo for ­Spanish-language coverage.

* The Paris Olympics are featuring fewer events. Tokyo 2020 had the greatest number events at 339. The count for Paris 2024 is still high at 329. But the following Olympic events have been discontinued: Gone are karate (not entertaining enough, according to Reuters) and baseball (the Olympics schedule conflicts with Major League Baseball). But there is also one entirely new sport this summer: breaking—or, as it’s more commonly known, breakdancing. No other dance sport has previously been included at the Olympics.

* During the 2024 Opening Ceremony, athletes won’t parade through a stadium. Instead, they are expected to float on boats down the River Seine toward the Eiffel Tower.

* LeBron James, who will compete in his fourth Olympics, will serve as a flag bearer Team USA at the Opening Ceremony.

*The surfing competition will take place in the French territory of Tahiti, on the Pacific Ocean’s legendary Teahupo’o waves. Located 15,000km (9,320 miles) away from Paris, the surfing venue will break the record for the furthest medal competition staged outside a host Olympic city.

*The Paris Games will feature a new Olympic sport: breaking an urban dance style that has its roots in hip-hop culture. The competition will feature two events – one for men and one for women – and will be held August 9-10 in Paris following its success at the Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018.

*The Eiffel Tower will be part of the Olympics. The iconic Eiffel Tower will be part of the Olympics in more ways than one. While the beach volleyball event will be held in a temporary outdoor arena under the tower, athletes will also carry a piece of the monument home as the Olympic medals will be adorned with original iron metal from the Eiffel Tower.

*The River Seine will host the marathon swimming event and the swimming leg of the triathlon at the Olympics, a century after it held some events during the first Paris Games in 1900. From 1923 until recently, swimming had been banned in the Seine due to water-quality issues, and for decades, the river was too toxic for most fish. Paris organizers have repeatedly assured the competitors that the water will be clean enough to swim during the Olympics. But doubts remain and some events may be moved or canceled if the river toxicity is too high.

*The mascots for the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics are the Phryges, a tribe of colorful red characters based on the Phrygian cap. The Phrygian cap is a symbol of freedom and has been part of French history for centuries, dating back to ancient times. During the French Revolution (1798-1799), the cap became a symbol of liberty and has served as a metaphor for freedom throughout France's history.

*For the latest Olympics news, schedules and results, go to: https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024

Reed Markham, International Olympic Committee News Service and Olympic Torchbearer 2002 Olympic Winter Games