With the flame extinguished in Tokyo this past weekend, the torch for the Summer Olympics -- seeing as the Winter Games in Beijing are just six months away -- has been passed to Paris, the host of the 2024 Summer Games.
Paris will host in less than three years.
Recommended Videos
Since it will be here sooner than usual with the short turnaround, here are five things to know as Paris prepares to welcome the world in the summer of 2024.
1. The logo caused a stir.
There didn’t seem to be a lot of fanfare when the logo for the Paris Olympics was unveiled in 2019, which is meant to illustrate an Olympic flame, a gold medal, and the hair and lips of Marianne, the personification of France since 1789 that represents liberty, equality and fraternity.
🥇🔥🇫🇷
— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) October 21, 2019
La médaille, la flamme, Marianne.
Voici le nouveau visage des Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques de #Paris2024
The medal, the flame, Marianne
Here is the new face of the Olympic and Paralympic Games of #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/6VvsItrql6
But lately, more people have evidently taken notice of the logo and mocked it, according to Newsweek.
Some say it resembles a dating app, others have compared it to a “Karen” meme, while others compared the logo to Victoria Beckham or Rachel from “Friends,” Newsweek reported.
People have been spending lots of time on social media, mocking the logo, it seems.
2. The surfing event will be held nearly 10,000 miles away.
While most of the athletes will descend on Paris, competitors in the surfing event will be on the other side of the world -- literally.
Paris organizers and the IOC approved Tahiti, an island in French Polynesia located in the south Pacific Ocean, as the site of the surfing competition. Located roughly 9,800 miles from Paris, Tahiti will break the record for the farthest medal competition to be held away from the host city at an Olympics.
3. The public will be allowed to run the marathon course.
The marathon event will have a massively different feel, because for the first time at an Olympics, the public will be allowed to run the marathon course. However, two things must be made clear:
1. The Olympic or elite runners will be sent off at a different time than public runners.
2. Amateurs or those in the public can’t win a medal. They have to qualify for the Olympic race in order to do that.
Still, this should be a neat mass participation event that will give average runners a chance to feel like they are in the Olympics by running the course on the same day of the event.
4. Paris will make history as a host.
In 2012, London became the first city to play host to the Summer Olympics three times, although Paris was close to earning that distinction.
London beat out Paris for the right to host the 2012 Games in a close vote.
But 12 years later, Paris will join London in becoming a three-time host. Paris hosted in 1900 and 1924, so it will mark 100 years since the last time the French city had the Olympics.
5. This will be Part I of the Paris/Los Angeles arrangement.
When bidding first started for the 2024 Olympics, five cities emerged as candidates: Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Budapest and Hamburg.
But the latter three ended up withdrawing their bids, leaving what appeared to be a terrific bidding war between Paris and Los Angeles.
But knowing each city was a strong candidate and that it was likely that no better ones would emerge for the 2028 Summer Olympics, the International Olympic Committee worked with organizers from Paris and Los Angeles and came to a compromise: Paris was awarded the 2024 Olympics, and Los Angeles was chosen as the host city for 2028.
At that time, Los Angeles will join London and Paris as three-time host cities.