The iconic Eiffel Tower of Paris has started looking different before the start of the Olympic Games. The iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris has been decorated with five Olympic rings. This competition, which will organize different sports, is to start from Friday. A grand opening ceremony will be held before its start.
The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics 2024 will begin at 11:00 pm IST and will be telecast live in India as well. According to Olympics.com, for the first time, the opening ceremony will not be held inside the stadium. The traditional parade of nations will take place along the Seine River that flows through the heart of Paris.
More than 10,000 Olympic athletes will travel on nearly 100 boats through the Seine River and past some of Paris’ most iconic landmarks such as Notre Dame, Pont des Arts, Pont Neuf, etc. The float parade will begin at the Austerlitz Bridge near the Jardin des Plantes and end at the Trocadero, where the rest of the Olympic protocols and shows will be performed. The ceremony is expected to last more than three hours.
French theatre director and actor Thomas Jolly is overseeing the ceremonies of the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics as artistic director. India’s two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and multiple-time Olympic, Commonwealth and Asian Games medallist Achanta Sharath Kamal will lead the Indian contingent as flag bearers holding the tricolour in their hands.
India will aim to surpass its best tally of seven medals won at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, including the first ever athletics gold medal won by javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra. A total of 112 athletes will represent the tricolour in 69 events across 16 sports. Apart from this, there will also be five reserve athletes.
During the opening ceremony, the Indian men’s players will wear traditional kurta-bandi sets, while the women’s players will wear matching sarees depicting the Indian flag. These costumes include ikat-inspired prints and Banarasi brocade. It is noteworthy that the Indian team started its Olympic journey on Thursday with the ranking round in men’s and women’s archery. The Indian archery team of Dheeraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Praveen Jadhav on Thursday qualified directly for the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics 2024 competition by finishing third with 2013 points in the men’s archery ranking round.
South Korea (2049 points) topped the rankings, followed by France (2025 points) while China finished fourth with 1998 points. All four teams, including India, have directly qualified for the quarter-finals of the competition. Dheeraj, who started at 11th position, made a brilliant comeback to finish at 5th and Tarundeep Rai also made the most of his chances and finished 14th, while India’s third archer Pravin Jadhav struggled early and finished 39th. However, his overall effort took India to third place.
Also, the women’s team of Bhajan Kaur, Deepika Kumari and Ankita Bhakat qualified directly for the quarter-finals of the event at the Paris Olympics by finishing fourth with 1983 points. In the women’s archery ranking round, South Korea topped the list with 2046 points, followed by China (1996) and Mexico (1986). For India, Ankita Bhakat finished 11th with 666 points, her best performance this season, and was seeded 11th in the women’s archery competition. South Korea’s Lim Sihyeon (694), which is a world record, and Nam Suhyeon (688), which is her personal best, finished first and second in the women’s ranking. For India, Bhajan finished 22nd while Deepika was ranked 23rd.
