Yes, after almost five months of intense preparations,
nervous excitement, and a massive build up,
the D-Day is here. Olympics
2024 will officially kick start with the opening ceremony later
tonight,
and the tournament is already making history for many reasons.
One, it promises to be the greenest Olympics ever.
We'll come back to this in more detail a little
later,
but here are some of its highlights.
Paris will now become only the second city after London
to have hosted the tournament three times.
The city hosted Olympics in 1900 and
1924. The Games then returns to the city in exactly
100 years.
And given the history, Paris had to do something different.
So they are making sure there are many firsts.
For the first time in Olympics history,
there will be equal representation from male and female athletes.
And to think it all started with no female participation
back in
1896 at the Athens Olympics where it all began.
For the first time, the opening ceremony will not take
place inside the stadium,
it will happen in the heart of the city on
Riverside.
And of course, a new sport in the form of
breakdance will be introduced in this edition,
making dancing not just something to pass the time with,
its now a competitive sport.
In another of firsts, a nursery has been set up
in the athletes village,
a space where athletes who are parents can be with
their children when they can.
The family space is equipped with changing table,
a breastfeeding area, a play area and a family time
space.
The tournament will also see the youngest flag bearer Yahya
Al Ghatoni for the refugee team who's just all of
19.
The tournament is paving the way for the next generation
and doing so in grand style.
The country has vowed to make this the greenest Olympics
in the history of the games and much is being
done towards that.
The Olympics village is an eco friendly
as it can get from electric buses for transportation to
venues
within 10 kilometres, a little more than 11 miles of
distance from the village.
The organisers have made sure less fuel is consumed for
transportation.
To reduce plastic waste, 200 soft drink fountains have been
installed around the village.
A solar power plant for electricity is the cherry on
the cake.
And remember, this Olympics village will later be turned into
homes for the homeless and students,
so clearly this is designed for the future use as
well,
just like the cardboard bets.
Of course that has created so much of curiosity which
are being used by athletes now.
They'll later be given to the homeless.
And if you thought Paris would be compensating for all
this through ticket prices,
they aren't like in many mega tournaments that have seen
ticket prices being hiked.
Take the T20 World Cup in USA recently or the
FIFA World Cup in Qatar a couple of years ago.
In Paris though, tickets are as low as
24 euros, which is roughly around
$26, and they will all be sold from a single
portal alone.
And here's the catch, they can't be resold to anyone.
The buyer will have their name on it,
so only he or she or they can enter with
it.
About 10 million tickets are expected to go on sale.
So quite a memorable tournament for everyone out there.
And it will be remembered for ages to come,
especially by athletes will get to take back a piece
of the Eiffel Tower with them if they end up
on the podium.
Medals will be infused with iron from the original Eiffel
Tower structure,
which the city had saved during all the renovations.
And who doesn't want a piece of the historic Eiffel
Tower to take back with them?
And Paris has Amidst all of the global political chaos,
the city finds itself in hopes this Olympics will set
the trend for other editions to follow.
Climate change is on our doorstep.
It's time for a revolution to take root.
And it starts with 1.4 billion Indians.
It starts with one tree.
One tree for humanity. One tree for Mother Earth.
One tree for a future
project. One Tree, a News 18 Network initiative
across continents. One powerful news source
bringing you diverse perspectives on the issues that matter.
We go beyond the boundaries to give you that little
extra about every sporting moment.
So thank you for making first post 5 million strong.
You're counting on your support,
and you can trust us to bring you the news,
unfiltered and unvolished.
Hello. I'm
Adam Green, coming
to
you from South Africa.
Start with a report on
India.
Hello, and welcome to First CALL to America.
I'm Eric Ham coming to you live from the nation's
capital of Washington,
DC.