(ATR) France will be going all out for the first Olympic Day since Paris won the right to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) president Denis Masseglia, Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet and Jean-François Martins, Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of Sport, Tourism and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, unveiled on Tuesday the Olympic Day plans for the French capital and the entire country.
Paris will be at the center of the celebrations beginning on June 20, when each of the city’s arrondissements (boroughs) will set up festive, cultural and educational activities around the values of Olympism. A sports course, based on challenges or a quiz, will be organized, with a diploma giving participants the opportunity to meet athletes on Olympic Day.
On the day itself, sports facilities, open to all, will transform the Parc des Rives de Seine into a giant sports ground. Many French athletes will be on hand for a free initiation and demonstration of 30 Olympic and Paralympic disciplines.
A nautical base will be installed on the right bank of the River Seine. A collective sports practice area will be offered on the Parvis de l'Hôtel de Ville. Renaud Lavillenie will try to beat his own world record in a high-flying pole vault competition, held at the Pont de l'Arcole.
On the left bank, the Pont des Arts will host combat sports. Practice areas for athletics, gymnastics and badminton will be on the Gros Caillou. Demonstrations of trampoline and other aerial disciplines will take place on the Pont Alexandre III in the evening.
The announcement last September in Lima that Paris had won the right to host the 2024 Games will make this Olympic Day even more special for the city.
"The celebration of Olympic Day 2018 will have a special flavor a few months after the historic victory of Lima," said Estanguet in a statement. "These 24 hours will offer the opportunity to share the atmosphere and magic of the Games by giving a taste of the summer of 2024 in the heart of Paris. It will also be an opportunity to engage the population by allowing unprecedented meetings with French champions."
The activities are not limited to the French capital.
Free races of 2024m are being organized throughout the country and its overseas territories. The French Federation of Athletics is spearheading the "24 races over 24" with the first event scheduled to begin in Marseille at 1030 local time and the last in Paris at 22:30.
"This 2018 edition will once again spread the Olympic values across the country with the organization of many events and free races," said Masseglia in a statement. "The sports movement is mobilized to make this event a true celebration of Olympism."
Written by Gerard Farek
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