The Olympic Studies Centre

On July 22 and 23, the CÉROU - Centre d'études et de recherches olympiques universitaires of Université de Franche-Comté hosted the 4th International Colloquium of academic Olympic Studies and Research Centre (OSRC). 27 OSRCs coming form 17 countries attended the event, and fruitful discussions where held on the nature of Olympic studies and their contribution to society and the OM, as well as on how to reinforcing the activities of the OSRCs and promoting collaboration among the OSRCs. A big thanks to Éric MONNIN (director of the CEROU - Université de Franche-Comté) and his team for the excellent organization of the event in Besançon. More information about the event here https://lnkd.in/dh4SpefX, and the list of academic OSRCs, which now includes 72 centres, is available here https://lnkd.in/dnx8x-aZ.

The Games of the XXXIII Olympiad Paris 2024 officially starts today 🔥🔥! 10,500 athletes from 205 countries plus the Refugees Olympic Team are set to compete in 32 competitions and 329 events. The opening ceremony will begin at 7.30pm local time, 5.30pm GMT. You can watch the ceremony and the competitions on your local TV channel. The list of broadcasters is available here https://lnkd.in/eidWXnfi For more information about the Protocol during the Opening Ceremonies, consult the factsheet here https://bit.ly/3rsLJ1b, and the full competition schedule is available here https://lnkd.in/eumA4jJk Let the Games begin! #OpeningCeremony | #Paris2024

The 142nd IOC Session was held in Paris, France, from July 22 to 24, 2024. On the agenda were several important topics, including: - The election of French Alps 2030 as Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games host - The election of Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 as Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games host - The creation of Olympic Esports Games – first Games to be held in 2025 in Saudi Arabia - The award of the Olympic Laurel to Olympic Laurel for United Nations High Commissioner Filippo Grandi - The publication of the 2023 Annual Report and Financial Statements - An update on the implementation of the Olympic AI Agenda - Amendments to the Olympic Charter All news and documents on the 142nd IOC Session can be found here https://lnkd.in/dZRKn6Gi

Don’t miss the newly released PodCast series (French only), “C’est plus compliqué que ça - l’histoire derrière l’histoire,” on Pierre de Coubertin. This series sets out to debunk typical myths about the man, his convictions, and his work. In four short episodes of around 15 minutes each, listeners will enjoy a mix of light, factual, honest, thought-provoking, and humorous tones. 🎙️ Find it on any podcast platform: https://audmns.com/FKkuGjE 🤔 Interested in consulting the original sources and other important references on Pierre de Coubertin? Check out our most recent published resources on Coubertin here: https://shorturl.at/mlgPZ and our ZOOM IN page with a vast selection of readings https://lnkd.in/envvMank #PierreDeCoubertin #Coubertin #OlympicStudies #Olympics

Road to Paris D-4: the torch of Paris 2024 The torch relay is an integral part of the modern Olympic Games. The numerous festivities organised along the relay route announce the coming of the Games and allow the general public to share the Olympic spirit. The first Olympic torch relay was held for the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin. For the Winter Games, it was not until 1952 in Oslo that the first relay was held. Since then, the tradition has been continued for each edition of the Games. The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games torch is distinguishable primarily by its colour, which is both unique and radiant. To reflect the forthcoming Games, Lehanneur drew inspiration from three themes of Paris 2024: Equality, Water and Peacefulness. The torch encapsulates equality through its perfectly symmetrical desig, water through a wave, three-dimensional and vibration effects on the torch, and peacefulness with curves and rounded lines. Designed by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur, 2,000 torches have been produced, five times less than what was used at previous Games. More information here https://lnkd.in/eJc-JwNX To see all Olympic Torches and Torch Relays in Olympic history, consult on the Olympic World Library our reference documents for the Olympic Summer Games https://bit.ly/2ueV2Fg, and the Olympic Winter Games https://bit.ly/2Tg2Gcs.

Road to Paris D-7: The victory ceremonies of Paris 2024 The ultimate moment in an Olympic and Paralympic athlete’s career is receiving their medal at the Games. This special moment is often the culmination of a lifetime of hard work and self-discipline. The eco-friendly podiums, made by Le Pavé, Global Concept and Giffard, coloured grey in homage to the rooftops of Paris and inspired by the design of the Eiffel Tower, will be used for all 329 medal ceremonies at the Olympic Games. All the elements that make up the podiums are French, as are the companies that created them. Start-up company Le Pavé was responsible for recycling the materials, Global Concept took charge of their construction and Giffard produced their wooden structure. The wooden modules produced by Giffard are made from plywood, and each podium is assembled using a modular system: modules can be added or removed to lengthen or shorten the surface as required, with team sports needing longer podiums. More information here https://lnkd.in/ejRWU2fD

Road to Paris D-9: The medals of Paris 2024 As per tradition, the medals show the Greek goddess of victory, the Olympic emblem, the name of the Games, the name of the sport or discipline concerned and the Organising Committee's emblem. Additionally, they should reflect the visual look, plus cultural and aesthetic elements of the Games. The design of the Paris 2024 Olympic medals celebrats the return of the Games to France, each Games medal being embellished with an original piece of the Eiffel Tower. The original Eiffel Tower iron is formed in a hexagon — the geometrical shape of France herself. Stripped of its “Eiffel Tower brown” paint, the iron is returned to its original colour. Placed in the centreand imprinted with the emblem of the Paris 2024 Games, this piece of heritage fits perfectly within the gold, silver and bronze core of the medal. The Eiffel Tower has also inspired the unique design of the ribbons for the medals. For the Olympic Games Paris 2024, the medal ribbons will be adorned with the Eiffel Tower lattice work. The Olympic medal ribbons will be dark blue, one of the first coats of paint used on the Eiffel Tower. Paris 2024 called on LVMH jeweler Chaumet to design its medals. Globally renowned for its craftsmanship, Chaumet has made the medal into a veritable jewel, with a construction conceived around three sources of inspiration: the hexagon, radiance, and gem-setting. More information here https://lnkd.in/g6MDjZhR Check out the historical evolution of the Summer Games medals in our Reference Document here https://bit.ly/2QxUrZr

Road to Paris D-11: The swimming pools of Paris 2024 As well as being the setting for sporting achievements by the athletes, the various Olympic pools over the years offer a panorama of interpretations as to how a modern sports venue is created depending on the different locations, eras and cultures. The Aquatics Centre, along with Le Bourget Climbing Wall, is the only permanent sports facility to be built for the Paris 2024 Games. Located in the heart of the Plaine Saulnier, opposite the Stade de France, in which it will be connected to by a footbridge spanning the A1 autoroute, it will host the diving, water polo, and artistic swimming competitions. The Aquatics Centre’s novel configuration will be modular: it will be able to switch from a 5,000-seat venue during the Games to a 2,500-seat facility to host neighbourhood events afterwards. The Aquatics Centre will be low-carbon and all the building materials will be bio-based. Its timber structure and roof frame are designed to blend seamlessly into the surrounding greenery. With a 5,000 sqm roof covered with photovoltaic panels, it will be one of France’s largest urban solar farms and supply all the energy that the centre needs. From July 2025, the Aquatics Centre will become a vast multi-sports facility open to all, including two pools (50m and 25m), a fitness area, bouldering area, paddle tennis section and pitches for team sports. It will also have an adjustable floor to serve a variety of purposes (swimming lessons for babies and children, etc.). Travel back in Olympic history and read about the pools which have hosted the aquatics events of the Games of the Olympiad (swimming, diving, water-polo, artistic swimming). Our Reference Document "Olympic swimming pools from London 1908 to Tokyo 2020" contains information on the pool project itself, together with how it was used or adapted for the Games, its architecture, its particular features and lastly its post-Olympic use. You can access it on the Olympic World Library here https://lnkd.in/eA5XmnMV.

Road to Paris D-14: The stadiums of Paris 2024 Thanks to their size and prestige, the Olympic stadiums are generally regarded as the core centre of the sports facilities created for the Games, which is why they are sometimes referred to as the “main stadium”. For Paris 2024, the Stade de France, the country’s largest stadium with 80,698 seats, will transform into the Olympic Stadium after three decades of hosting France’s biggest sports events. Built in Saint-Denis, the Stade de France was designed by architects Macary, Zublena, Regembal and Costantini, and created for the 1998 Football World Cup. Stade de France has a movable stand which can be retracted to uncover part of the athletics track. The stadium was notably designed with the assistance of a software simulation of crowd in order to get an accurate observation of how it would look fully developed. The elliptical shape of the roof symbolizes the universality of sport in France. Its area of six hectares and weight, 13,000 tons, was designed to easily protect the spectators without covering the playing field. All lighting and sound, which include 550 lights and 36 blocks of 5 speakers, are housed inside to avoid obstructing visibility. The tinted glass in the center reduces the contrast and distributes natural light. It filters out red and infrared radiation, however, it allows blue and green lights, due to their necessity involving the health of the turf. Want to know more about the stadiums which have hosted which have hosted the athletics events and/or the Opening and Closing Ceremonies? Our Reference Document "The Olympic Stadiums of the Summer Games from Athens 1896 to Tokyo 2020" contains information on the stadium project itself, together with how it was used or adapted for the Games, its architecture, its particular features and lastly its post-Olympic use. You can access it on the Olympic World Library here https://lnkd.in/e95-inpV.

Road to Paris D-16: The Olympic village of Paris 2024 The Olympic Village is a key element in the organisation and success of the Games. It brings together the world’s athletes in a unique location, and offers them an accommodation solution adapted to their needs during the final phase of their preparation. It is the fruit of an evolution process inseparably linked to that of the Olympic Games. The Paris Olympic and Paralympic Village is found on a 51-hectare site less than 5 miles north of Paris. It's placed across three different towns: Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis, and L'Ile-Saint-Denis, and will comprise a total of 16,000 beds. After the Games, the Village will become a neighbourhood with 2,500 new homes, one student residence, one hotel, a three-hectare landscaped park, about seven hectares of gardens and parks, 120,000 sqm of offices and city services and 3,200 sqm of neighbourhood shops. More information here https://lnkd.in/g-HqfGUK Our Reference Document "Olympic Summer Games Villages from Paris 1924 to Tokyo 2020" retraces the evolution of Olympic Winter Games villages since they appeared in Paris in 1924. Dive into the atmosphere of these places thanks to mosaics of images, and learn more about the concept, the services proposed and the technical characteristics of each village on the Olympic World Library here https://lnkd.in/dxPRx3dP