Paris Olympics

As summer arrives, so does the biggest sporting spectacular event of the year. The 2024 Olympic games will be held in Paris, France, from 26 July to 11 August – featuring a total of 329 medal events stemming from 32 sports. Around 10,500 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) will take part in the hope of securing the most prestigious of sporting accolades … Olympic gold!

Tune in to watch the best of the action on the BBC. The opening ceremony will launch the games in unique style, with thousands of athletes sailing 6km (four miles) down the River Seine, which runs through the heart of Paris, and makes history as the first open air ceremony held outside of a stadium.

The beauty of the Olympics of course is that it provides such a wide variety of sports to enjoy; ranging from traditional events such as Athletics, Gymnastics and Boxing to Water Polo, Fencing and Beach Volleyball. In addition, one brand-new event will be included, while three make their second appearance after debuting at the pandemic-delayed 2020 Tokyo Games.

Breaking: Or break-dancing as it’s more commonly known, originally debuted in the 2018 world youth Olympic games in Buenos Aries and is now included for the first time. This is perhaps an attempt to spark interest from the younger generation.

Skateboarding: Is back for a full debut after being trialled in Tokyo. Two separate events will take place, a park competition in a traditional skate bowl environment and an X-Games-style street competition.

Surfing: Surf’s up for the summer alright, however you may question surfing in France? No, the second Olympic surfing event actually take place on the shores of Teahupo’o in Tahiti – an island in French Polynesia. This is sure to be an epic event.

Sport Climbing: Or indoor rock climbing as you may know it. Another sport which first featured in Tokyo. There will be three separate events to watch and learn in this category; Boulder, Speed and Lean, each requiring a very specific skill set.

The Great Britain team comprises athletes from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (although athletes from the province can represent the Republic of Ireland instead).

Team GB has recorded superb results in the last four Olympic Games, coming fourth in the medal table at Beijing in 2008, third at London in 2012 (65 medals in total), second at Rio in 2016 (67 medals), then fourth at Tokyo in 2020 (64 medals). British athletes won medals across 18 sports in a locked-down Tokyo and are again hoping for success in even more disciplines this time around.

In an analysis released 12 months ago, Great Britain was forecast to win 62 medals in Paris. This predicts that Team GB will finish fourth in the medal table behind hosts France, China, and the United States.

Below is a selection of Team GB’s best medal hopes.

Athletics

Dina Asher-Smith – the fastest British woman of all time who in 2019 won gold at the World Championships over 200m and silver in the 100m sprint, will also prove to be an integral factor in the 4 x 100 metres relay team.

Laura Muir – will also be looking to go one better in the 1,500m after winning silver in Tokyo 2020. The 31-year-old from Inverness will have all of Scotland – and of course the rest of Britain – behind her.

Molly Caudery – is yet another star in the women’s Track & Field team. The pole-vaulter from Cornwall is fresh from picking up her bronze medal at the European Championships in Rome, adding to her World Indoor gold in Glasgow earlier this year.

Zharnel Hughes – ‘the Smiling Assassin’ was born in Anguilla and won bronze in the 100m at the World Championships in 2023 and will no doubt be hoping to erase his Olympic memories from Tokyo, where he was part of the disqualified 4 x 100m GB team.

Boxing

Delicious Orie – hopes for the 2023 European gold medallist are high for a tasty 2024 for the 6ft 6inch Super Heavyweight boxer from Wolverhampton, born in Moscow to a Nigerian father and a Russian mother.

Cycling

Josh Tarling – the 20-year-old from Wales, 2023 European and National time trial cyclist champion, now has the world at his feet with the Team GB cycling team which is as strong as ever.

Kieran Reilly – the 22-year-old from Newcastle will compete in the Freestyle BMX event and is all set for Olympic glory after gold medals in 2023 at the World and European championships. 

Diving 

Anthony Harding competes in the 3-metre synchro. He won silver at the World Championships in 2023 and European gold in 2022.

Eventing

Rosalind Canter is a highly decorated Equestrian who won two World Championship gold medals in 2018 and five European gold medals dating from 2017- 2023 – so it’s fair to say that she has all the credentials for Olympic gold.

Gymnastics 

Max Whitlock is the most successful British artistic gymnast in history. Specialising in the vault, he is seeking a seventh Olympic medal.

Judo 

Lucy Renshall is the 2018 European Champion bronze medallist.

Rowing 

Imogen Grant will compete in the lightweight double-skulls where she won gold in 2022 and 2023 at the World Championships.

Sailing 

Ellie Aldridge is a former World silver Medallist (2021).

Rock Climbing 

At just 19, Toby Roberts is already a four-time World Cup gold medallist.

Russia and Belarus in the Olympic Games

Russia has been banned from competing as a nation in athletics since November 2015 after it was discovered that they were involved in state-sponsored doping. The country was accused of running a ‘state-supported’ doping programme in a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) commission report.

In 2019 the ban was upheld after Wada declared that Russia’s Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) was non-compliant for manipulating laboratory data handed over to investigators. Although Russia’s doping suspension has now been lifted, the ban continues because of their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which has been supported by Belarus. 

In October 2023, the IOC executive board declared that the Russian Olympic Committee was suspended with immediate effect until further notice. The suspension means that the Russian Olympic Committee is no longer entitled to operate as a National Olympic Committee as defined in the Olympic charter and cannot receive any funding from the Olympic movement.

The recommendations of the IOC make clear that:

• Athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport must compete only as individual neutral athletes.
• Teams of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport cannot be considered.
• Athletes who actively support the war cannot compete. Support personnel who actively support the war cannot be entered.
• Athletes or support personnel who are contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies cannot compete.“

According to the Russian state-run news outlet TASS, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the IOC of using the Olympic Games as a form of “gross and in fact racist ethnic discrimination.”