Paris 2024 will celebrate International Day of Sport for Development and Peace with global relay

Paris 2024 is set to co-organize a global relay with the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs to celebrate the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. The relay will involve public figures, Olympic athletes, and the general public, and span the entire globe through the utilization of embassies and French overseas departements, regions and territories (DROM-COM).

The relay will happen in a context where people are reminded, daily, of the importance of forging connections between different peoples according to Paris 2024. The organization sees sport as one of the last remaining human activities where it’s possible to break through language barriers, bridge cultural divides, and unite those with competing interests.

Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024, commented, “sport gives us the opportunity to work together, to share things, to push through our own limits and in so doing, become better, together.”

“On April 6, every embassy and every territory involved in the relay around the world will help to create a moment of conviviality, brotherhood and unity, built around sport. Through this ground-breaking event and thanks to the commitment of our embassies, we are driving Paris 2024′s message of engagement further, broadcasting it out across the entire world.”

Each embassy and DROM-COM participating in the relay has been designated a “Terre de Jeux 2024.” According to Estanguet, the purpose of that label is to “bring people and territories together around the unique impetus of the Games and sport in general.”

In terms of specifics, the global relay will begin in Fiji at 9:00 a.m. local time. It will then travel across Oceania, before traveling to Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas. The relay will reach its terminus in French Polynesia at Teahupo’o, site of the surfing competitions during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

A unique, hour-long sporting event will be conducted during each leg of the relay. Each leg of the relay will last one hour, so that the following legs of relay can begin once more at 9:00 local time in each subsequent time zone. At the conclusion of each leg of the relay, the “baton” will be passed on virtually using social media.

Paris 2024 anticipates the participation of nearly 40 athletes and the practice of 30 sports. Some athletes of note taking part in the relay include Ecuadorian weightlifter Neisi Dajmoes, who won her country’s first ever Olympic gold medal in weightlifting during the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, Mozambican athlete Maria Mutola, who won her country’s only Olympic gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics, and Ghanaian boxer Samuel Takyi, who won a bronze medal in the men’s featherweight class at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.

Takyi’s participation will be of particular interest as he will face off against the French Ambassador of Ghana according to Paris 2024. That is one of many unique events, such as a kayak race on Lake Paranoá in Brazil and an inclusive multi-sport relay contested on foot, wheelchair, and mountain bike in Guyana, that will constitute various legs of the relay.

Laurence Fischer, Ambassador for sport, Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, stated, “the relay around the world – an unprecedented event – is testament to the firm commitment of our “Terre de Jeux 2024″ embassies in the marvel that is the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, and our desire, through sports diplomacy, to actively help further sustainable development and human rights internationally.”

The relay will act as a celebration of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, which was designed by the United Nations to encourage sustainable development, the advancement of human rights, and the development of solidarity and peace.