And so Paris, for the third time, will host the Summer Olympic Games.
It's 100 years since the city last welcomed the athletes of the world, including, for the first time, a team from Ireland. Indeed a film was made about two British athletes, Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, who competed at the 1924 Games. Their determination to succeed, albeit for different reasons, found much expression in the Oscar-winning 'Chariots of Fire', with Vangelis' electronic theme tune providing a stirring soundtrack.
The father of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, was born in Paris. His philosophy on what the Games should embody has been well documented: "The important thing is not to win, but to take part; the important thing in life is not triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well".
The action has already begun in the French capital, where over 10,714 athletes from 206 countries will compete across 32 sports, encompassing 329 medal events.
And compete in front of crowds, a marked contrast to Tokyo three summers ago, when the world was still grappling with Covid-19. For Ireland, it's very much a 'home' Games, similar to London 2012. Those representing Team Ireland will be well supported: parents, siblings, significant others, and close friends will provide much vocal support from the stands and terraces.
This evening will see an opening ceremony like no other. For the first time it will not take place in a stadium. Dozens of boats will instead carry thousands of athletes and performers on a 6km floating parade on the Seine. Organisers have promised a show that will be daring and joyful.
This moving show will pass the Notre-Dame Cathedral and arrive near the Eiffel Tower, after passing under bridges and gateways, including the Pont des Arts and Pont Neuf, and near many of the French capital's landmarks.
Organisers have said they will take advantage of the historic monuments, the riverbanks, the sky and water "and there won't be a single riverbank or bridge that won't be filled with music, dance, or performance."
Latest stories from Paris 2024
Paris, France and the Games will all be celebrated in a ceremony that will last under four hours, with over 100 heads of state and government set to attend, while 300,000 spectators will watch from the river's banks.
The hosts of the XXXIII Olympiad are determined to show off their city in a good light. The Grand Palais, Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde, and the Palace of Versailles will be the backdrop to some events.
Over €1.4billion has been spent on cleaning up the Seine and recently the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo went for a dip herself, a gesture to remove suspicions about whether athletes can compete in the triathlon and marathon swimming events.
However, heavy rain could still impact on the quality of the water. There is, however, a Plan B, with Vaires-sur-Marne, the neighbouring river east of Paris, to host events if the quality deteriorates.
Keeping everyone safe
France has had to deal with numerous terrorist incidents over the last decade, most notably the attack on the Bataclan Theatre in Paris, where 90 people were killed on 13 November, 2015. On that same night, suicide bombers attempted to gain entry to the Stade de France during the France-Germany international football friendly. They failed to gain entry but blew themselves up outside the stadium.
Since then, the Nice truck attack in July 2016 and a series of lone-wolf incidents have underlined France's problem in countering terrorism. Wars in Gaza and Ukraine have only heightened worries.
The main potential risk would be from a lone attacker, officials have added, while also flagging potential petty crime and possible protests, from environmental activists, the far right and far left, the pro-Palestinian movement or others.
'Unprecedented' security operation promised for Paris Olympic Games
A man was arrested in May in Saint-Etienne, suspected of planning an attack in the name of Islamic State at the city's soccer stadium during the Games. A right-wing sympathiser was arrested in eastern France in July on suspicion of plotting attacks to take place during the Olympics.
Overnight, there were arson attacks at installations along the railway lines connecting Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in west and Strasbourg in the east.
At the opening ceremony, 45,000 police and gendarmes, backed up by a 10,000-strong contingent of soldiers, will comprise the largest security operation in Paris since World War II.
Team Ireland primed for Parisian high point
As John Treacy rounded the final bend en route to winning a silver medal in the Marathon at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, the late Jimmy Magee, in his commentary for RTÉ television, began to call out the names of those who had medalled for Ireland before Treacy.
Magee's timing was impeccable, with the Co Waterford competitor crossing the line to the words of "and for the 13th time an Irish medal goes to John Treacy".
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13 medals then in the period from 1924 to '84.
From Seoul in 1988 to Athens 2004, seven medals were won, with '88 and '04 being blank years. Things picked up in Beijing '08, as our boxers showed the way. And then London 2012, with a haul of six, our best showing to date. The aim for Paris 2024 is to surpass that. Sport Ireland's High Performance
Strategy 2021-2032 says that Ireland will be an 8–10 medal country within the Olympic cycles Paris 2024 - LA 2028 and will look to sustain that success in 2032.
This year a record annual sum of €25million will be invested through Sport Ireland in High Performance Sport, bringing the total to more than €89m invested in the period from 2021 to 2024. Those figures underline the government's commitment to delivering sustained progress, and with it the funding to assist the various sporting bodies in the delivery of their high performance programmes. The National Sports Campus is a world-class facility, also helping to produce athletes who can achieve at the highest level.
And so Team Ireland will be represented by 133 competitors in Paris, across 14 sports, with 30 of the 32 counties represented. We hope Westmeath and Leitrim can make it a full house in LA! Hopes are high that medals won will surpass six, while reaching double figures would certainly smash all expectations.
Podium contenders
Alas, Ireland's men's rugby sevens side will not be among the medals. Consecutive defeats to New Zealand and Fiji and careless defeats at that will no doubt frustrate James Topping's side.
She's still only 21, and has not reached her prime, but Rhasidat Adeleke is certainly in the shake up to take home a medal in the 400m.
On the back of taking silver over the distance at the Europeans in June and then winning her first Diamond League event in Monaco on 12 July, the Tallaght native will hope to peak and deliver a first track medal for Ireland since Sonia O'Sullivan's 5000m silver in Sydney.
Adeleke's cause is helped by the fact that the top two athletes in the 400m are not competing. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the USA, the fastest women over the distance this year, and the world record holder and Olympic champion in the 400m hurdles, is going to prioritise the latter event.
As is the Netherlands' Femke Bol, who holds the world record for the indoor 400 and was world outdoor champion in Budapest last year. Expect a hurdling dual then between McLaughlin-Levrone and Bol on 8 August.
So, the door open a bit wider then. European champion Natalia Kaczmarek and Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, silver medallist in Tokyo, are the main threats to Adeleke who, for scheduling reasons, is unlikely to run in the heats of the 4x400m mixed relay.
Ciara Mageean will be expected to reach the 1500m final if she can recreate the form that saw her deliver gold at the Europeans in June. The Portaferry native did not take port in the Irish National Championships and then finished tenth in subsequent Diamond League meetings in Monaco (2000m) and Paris. Kenya's Faith Kipyegon, the world record holder, is the obvious favourite.
We mentioned the mixed relay team, and the hope is that they can get to a final in spite of Adeleke's expected absence in the heats. She could then run in that as one team member can be swapped out between rounds.
In swimming, Mona McSharry, an Olympic finalist in the 100m breaststroke, will expect to be amongst the final eight again.
Daniel Wiffen: I have one of the best mentalities in sport
Daniel Wiffen is a genuine medal contender. Last December, he became the first Irish swimmer to set a new world record, shaving 2.96 seconds off Grant Hackett's time in the 800m freestyle short-course.
Prior to that he won gold in the 1500m freestyle at the European Under-23 Championships in Dublin along with silver in the 800m and 400m events.
With expectations duly raised, Wiffen smashed them at last February's World Championships in Doha, when he claimed gold in the 1500m and 800m freestyle and walked off with the best male swimmer award from the event.
Wiffen, who recently turned 23, will compete in the 800m freestyle, 1500m freestyle and open-water 10km events, though he has said he'll skip the latter if it's not in The Seine.
Leaving the open-water aside, the Co Armagh competitor will be up against double Olympic champion Bobby Finke from the USA and Aussie teenager Sam Short in the race for gold in both pool events. Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri and Florian Wellbrock from Germany are other dangers.
Rio and Tokyo delivered medals for Ireland in rowing. Paul O'Donovan will be eyeing a gold hat-trick (and becoming the first Irish competitor to win medals at three Olympics) in the lightweight double sculls. The first of those was with his brother Gary in 2016, with Fintan McCarthy partnering him three years ago.
Paul O'Donovan grounded in face of potential medal history
Last year, the O'Donovan-McCarthy partnership took silver behind the hosts at the World Cup regatta in France, and in May the pair had to settle for bronze in another World Cup event at the Swiss venue. All suggesting then that gold may be hard won at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh, bronze medallists in the coxless four from Tokyo, now combine in the pair. They should be in the mix to medal, with the duo winning silver at a World Cup event in Italy in April.
"Always worth watching is this fabulous athlete from Ireland".
That's how the commentator on the world television feed described Rhys McClenaghan ahead of the Antrim competitor retaining his European Championship pommel horse title in April. McCleneghan is also a two-time world champion.
After the heartache in Tokyo, where he came off the apparatus early in the final, placing him seventh overall, he will be more than determined to make amends at the Bercy Arena.
Triple Olympic champion Matt Whitlock, in his final international appearance, and Ahmad Abu Al-Soud from Jordan are the other main contenders for gold.
In boxing, Kellie Harrington aims to follow up on her golden moment in the women's lightweight in Tokyo.
A lot has happened for Harrington throughout those intervening years since standing proudly to Amhrán na bhFiann in the Japanese capital; from the joyous celebration of marriage to partner Mandy Loughlin and receiving the freedom of Dublin, to the depths of anguish following a social-media storm when she retweeted a right-wing commentator, which led to tough questions regarding her stance on immigration.
Harrington 'parking the sadness, the madness' for Paris
After a tough radio interview with Off The Ball on Newstalk, Harrington admits that she went to a dark place and was thankful for the close circle of support that helped her through the controversy.
In April, Harrington suffered a first defeat in three years and 32 bouts as she lost out to Serbia's Natalia Shadrina in the European Championship semi-finals. The Dubliner's focus will be laser-like as a result in Paris, with a potential semi-final against Brazilian Beatriz Ferreira on the cards in the semis, a repeat of the Tokyo gold-medal bout.
Aidan Walsh will be chasing a second Olympic medal, though he now steps up to light middleweight. He made it through at the final qualifier tournament in Thailand in early summer after a four-man box-off for the last spot.
Roscommon's Aoife O’Rourke is not without a chance in the middleweight division. She won gold at the prestigious Strandja Memorial tournament in Bulgaria last February and was again at the head of the podium in the Elite European Boxing Championships in Belgrade at the end of April.
O'Rourke is unbeaten in 23 bouts.
After being less than enamoured with golf as an Olympic sport following its introduction at the Rio Games, Rory McIlroy was whistling a different tune come Tokyo, saying that 'I never tried so hard to finish third', after losing out on bronze after a seven-man play-off.
After that late collapse at the US Open and then missing the cut at Royal Troon, McIlroy could do with a pick-me-up. Shane Lowry also represents Team Ireland at the men's event at Le Golf National, the venue for the 2018 Ryder Cup. Scottie Scheffler and Open champion Xander Schauffele are among many top pros in the field.
The show jumping team of Cian O’Connor, Shane Sweetman, Daniel Coyle and Darragh Kenny - a late call-up after Bertram Allen's horse was injured - will look to build on their success in the Nations Cup in Achen, as Ireland chase a first equestrian medal since O'Connor won an individual bronze in London.
Global names to watch
It's a third consecutive Olympics for gymnastics star Simone Biles, though in Tokyo, despite winning a bronze in the balance beam, she withdrew from her other events because of the 'twisties': a mental block causing one to lose their sense of awareness in mid-air.
Biles then took time to out prioritise her mental health, before returning at the 2023 World Championships, where she won four gold medals. She looks certain to add to her medal haul in Paris.
Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is competing in her fifth, and final, Games, and will again target a medal in the 100m, after winning gold in Beijing and London, a bronze in Rio and then a silver in Tokyo. The 37-year-old is the only athlete, male or female, to win medals in the same event at four successive Olympics. Extending that sequence to five would be a remarkable ending to a decorated career on the track.
Forty-year-old LeBron James is back for a fourth Olympic appearance, his first since 2022. The four-time NBA champion, along with tennis star Coco Gauff, will be the Team USA flag bearer at the opening ceremony.
As a 15-year-old, Katie Ledecky made the world sit up and watch when winning the 800m freestyle in London. Nine more Olympic medals have followed, as well as 26 podium finishes at the World Championships. Ledecky has four events lined up in Paris, though it's expected she will not take part in the 200m freestyle. Over 400m, her clash with Australia's Ariarne Titmus, who took gold in Tokyo and is the world record holder, will be one of the highlights in the pool.
Another swimmer to watch is Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh. In February, she finished nearly six seconds ahead of Ledecky in the 800m freestyle in Orlando, ending the latter's 13-year winning run in the event.
In the Rugby 7s, will Antoine Dupont's decision not to play in this year's Six Nation pay off with an early gold-medal success for the host country? The French take on South Africa in Saturday's semi-final.
Watch the 2024 Olympic Games with 14 hours of televised action on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player each day. Listen to extensive radio coverage on RTÉ Radio 1 and 2fm's Game On and follow each moment from Paris on RTÉ.ie, the RTÉ News app and all RTÉ digital platforms. Listen to the daily RTÉ Sport Olympics Podcast.
