The Olympics - Page 2

The rumours about the Opening Ceremony all suggested the $1.5 billion spectacle was going to blow the world away. The rumours were very wrong.

A stunning array of sports, acting and singing royalty packed an exclusive Paris event before it was interrupted by a very specific protest.

Final preparations are under way as the French capital prepares to host the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Streets and bridges are closed, large areas are inaccessible, and security is tight as the city gears up for an unprecedented Opening Ceremony on Friday involving a 6-kilometre (4-mile) floating procession down the River Seine. 

Just two days before the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony kicks off, France was granted conditional approval to host the 2030 Winter Olympics. Set to take place in the French Alps, the green light was given by the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday under the condition that the next prime minister gives a financial “guarantee” for hosting the Games.

'We are ready', Macron says as France gears up for Paris Olympics amid tight security

The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics has sparked renewed controversy for the event a week out from the Games kicking off.

The latest water quality tests on the Seine show that the the river is still too polluted to swim in. And with a range of water sports scheduled to take place along the Seine in central Paris during next month's Olympic Games, organisers are hoping that the July sun will be enough to make the river fit for the world's top athletes.

The Seine is set to be a star feature of the Paris Olympics, but with just one month remaining until the opening of the games, heavy rains and pollution are keeping organisers in suspense on whether they will be able to host the open-water swimming events and a leg of the triathlon in the river.

France has been accused of a controversial act to try and improve its image ahead of the Paris Olympics.

Having long battled the creeping use of English in advertising, music and film, French MPs have declared a new struggle: keeping their home Olympics this year free from anglicisms.

Teachers and parents in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris have staged several weeks of strikes and protests in the run-up to the Paris Olympics, leveraging the Games as they call for urgent measures to help struggling state schools in mainland France’s poorest region, home to many of the Olympics’ signature venues.

The Paris Oympics flame was formally handed to French organizers on Friday in the all-marble stadium where the first modern Games were held in Athens in 1896.

The Eiffel Tower was supposed to greet the world’s athletes in a fresh coat of golden shimmer, the River Seine would be swimmable for the first time in 100 years and Paris was going to host the first-ever off-stadium opening ceremony in Olympic history. The hopes and expectations for the 2024 Games were grand and spectacular but with just three months to go will Paris be able to deliver on its promises?a

The talk before the opening ceremony of the Paris Games ideally should be about its grandiose backdrop: a summer sun setting on the Seine River as athletes drift by in boats and wave to cheering crowds. 

Long the envy of other cities, Paris' creaking underground metro system has become a subject of daily frustration for users just as the French capital gears up to host this year's Olympics. 

Mayors in rural and small-town France are increasingly angry over the transfer of migrants from the capital to their communities, which they believe is linked to clean-up efforts ahead of the Paris Olympics.

Less than 500 metres separate the Stade de France -- the sparkling centrepiece of the Paris Olympics -- and the crumbling Francs-Moisins estate plagued by poverty and crime.