Your guide to the 2024 Paris Olympics from new sports to top U.S. athletes

The 2024 Summer Olympics will take place in Paris, the first time the Games have been held in western Europe since 2012, when London was the host. These also will be the first Olympics with fans fully in attendance since the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. The past two Games, held in Tokyo and Beijing, were conducted under a variety of pandemic restrictions.

Several Paris 2024 events will be held in parks and squares around the city. The Opening Ceremonies will be on the Seine.

Here’s what to expect.

When do the Olympics begin and what is the schedule?

The Opening Ceremonies will be July 26. Competitions, though, started July 24, with the first men’s soccer and rugby sevens matches. The initial medal events take place July 27. The Closing Ceremonies will be held after the final events Aug. 11.

How can I get tickets to the 2024 Olympics?

Paris 2024 has announced robust early sales for tickets to Olympic events. Seats remain for some competitions. Paris 2024 has set up a website for ticket sales.

What are the new sports?

Breaking, the competitive form of break dancing, is the only new sport that has been added by Paris organizers. There will be two breaking events, one each for men and women, with 16 dancers in each event. The competition will run over two days.

Four of the sports added to the Tokyo Olympics - skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing and 3x3 basketball - were received enthusiastically and return this year.

What are the most popular sports?

Track and field, or athletics as it is called around the rest of the world, is one of the most traditional of all Olympic events and will be featured prominently, running Aug. 1-11. The final track and field event is the women’s marathon, which will run through the center of Paris and out to Versailles and back.

Gymnastics is always immensely popular, more so at these Games with the return of Simone Biles. It will take place July 27- Aug. 5.

Swimming once again will be a huge part of the Olympics, with Frenchman Leon Marchand poised to become the face of the Games for the host country and Katie Ledecky looking to add to her seven career gold medals. It will go from July 27 to Aug 4.

The men’s and women’s basketball tournaments always draw huge television audiences because of the fields filled with professional stars. The U.S. men have won the past four Olympic gold medals, while the women have taken the past seven. Both tournaments, which start in Lille and move to Paris for the Games’ second week, should be more competitive than in recent Olympics.

Will there be Russian athletes at the Paris Olympics?

The IOC did not invite Russia or Belarus to the Olympics because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Russia’s Olympic federation has been suspended for the country’s attempt to claim athletes in seized Ukrainian territories as their own.

Some Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed in the Paris Games but only as what the IOC calls “independent neutral athletes.” These athletes, who will compete under a special green flag, have had to prove to an IOC committee that they do not actively support Russia’s invasion or have been a part of the Russian or Belarusian military. While at the Olympics, they cannot wear Russian or Belarusian colors and their country’s anthem will not be played or flag displayed.

Currently, 34 Russians have been invited as independent neutral athletes, and 20 have accepted the invite. Twenty-three Belarusians have been asked to come, and 14 have said yes.

What are the main stadiums and arenas?

The primary Olympic facility is the Stade de France, a 77,082-seat stadium built in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis for the 1998 World Cup. The stadium is home to France’s national soccer team and also hosts concerts and other large events. Most of the track and field events will be held there as will the Closing Ceremonies.

Accor Arena (also known as Bercy), located near the Seine in Paris’s 12th Arrondissement will be the site for the gymnastics competition during the Olympics’ first week and basketball on the second week. The early rounds of the basketball tournament will be the French city of Lille, a change from recent Olympics during which the entire basketball tournament has been in one arena.

Tennis will be held on the clay courts of Roland Garros, whose main stadium also will host the boxing medal rounds.

La Defense Arena, an indoor rugby stadium, will be the site for swimming and water polo. A temporary pool will be constructed near the closed end of the horseshoe-shaped arena.

Several temporary stadiums will be set up around Paris landmarks. Beach volleyball, for instance, is going to be played beneath the Eiffel Tower. Breaking, three-on-three basketball, BMX freestyle and skateboarding will be in facilities built on the Place de la Concorde. Fencing and taekwondo are going to be held in the magnificent Grand Palais, an exhibition hall built in 1900.

Many of France’s top soccer stadiums will host matches including the Parc des Princes, home to Paris Saint-Germain and the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.

What will be new about the Paris Olympics?

After two Olympics held during the coronavirus pandemic, the biggest change should be an open city with no mask requirements or quarantine restrictions. Athletes will be able to go freely around Paris and interact with fans, something they couldn’t do in Tokyo or Beijing.

A distinct difference from recent Games will be how Paris organizers are putting their Olympics in the middle of the city as opposed to pushing events to perimeter sites. Beach volleyball will be under the Eiffel Tower. Breaking, three-on-three basketball, BMX freestyle and skateboarding will be at the Place de la Concorde.

Part of this is to show off the city’s classic buildings and art, but Paris 2024 organizers also want this to be a compact Olympics where spectators can walk and use public transportation as opposed to the complex bus systems implemented for other Games.

Are the Opening Ceremonies really going to be on the Seine?

Yes. Paris 2024 organizers are determined to dazzle the world with an ambitious Opening Ceremonies in which the athletes will ride river boats in a parade on the Seine. The boats will go to a dock near the Trocadero, located just across the river from the Eiffel Tower, where athletes will sit in stands surrounding the plaza. The ceremony itself will take place at the Trocadero and should offer a stunning backdrop of the river and Eiffel Tower.

Is surfing really in Tahiti?

Yes, the new surfing competition, added last year at the Tokyo Games, is going to be in Teahupo’o, on the southeast coast of Tahiti, a semiautonomous French territory in the South Pacific. Teahupo’o is 9,800 miles from Paris making it the most distant venue from a host city in Olympic history.

Who are the top U.S. athletes to watch?

Gymnast Simone Biles will be back after a disappointing Tokyo and will be the leading U.S. athlete to watch at these Games after a spectacular performance at the recent team trials. Sunisa Lee, who won the all-around in Tokyo after Biles withdrew, is also on the team and a medal contender.

Sprinter Noah Lyles, who won bronze in Tokyo, is the leading American male at both the 100 and 200 meters and has hopes of winning gold not only in those two races but the 4x100 relay. Sha’Carri Richardson, denied a chance to run in Tokyo after a positive marijuana test, will do so this time after winning the 100 meters at the recent U.S. trials. Gabby Thomas is the top female in the 200 meters, and two-time gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is the world record holder in the 400-meter hurdles.

Swimmer Katie Ledecky will look to add to her seven gold medals after winning the 400, 800 and 1,500-meter freestyles at the recent U.S. trials. Rising star Kate Douglass won three events at the trials and is expected to have a strong showing, as is first-time Olympian Gretchen Walsh. Caeleb Dressel, who like Ledecky, has won seven Olympic golds, will also look to win more in Paris.

How can I watch?

NBC promises it will “break the Olympic record for broadcast hours on the NBC Network,” during the Paris Games. The network will stream every event live on its Peacock app and also will have options to watch events after they have taken place on Peacock.

Spanish broadcasts will be on Telemundo.