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Well, we could be about to find out...

Yay, this one's for you Marta (More to the point, this one's for anyone at the FA capable of seeing beyond their own thumbs...2031) Although obviously the final at the Maracana will be a wonderful occasion in its own right

Carl Lewis at the Stade de France to discover the new athletics track

Some photos found on Twitter of the progress of the stands for the Trocadéro (where the opening ceremony will end, as a reminder). I must admit that what seems to resemble a metal "arch", in front of a side stand... intrigues me. And there is another structure under construction at the Trocadéro, between the two buildings which form the Palais de Chaillot (therefore aligned with the Eiffel Tower). I saw a few months ago that NBC & France Télévisions would have their studio at the Trocadéro, it seems that this structure under construction corresponds to these temporary studios. This therefore makes the idea of having an Olympic cauldron at the Trocadéro for the opening ceremony less likely.

Yeah, I hope they remove this f*cking song for good as soon as the Olympic Champion in Fencing leaves.

For some context, there is currently a mess happening there, Kanyak(the island natives) nationalists are protesting against a proposal to open up the electoral college for New Caledonia specific votes to all people in the island. There have currently the national french list and the New Caledonian for people born in the island or residing there for 20 years or longer, due to the Noumea Accord. These people from the second list have a second separate citzenship of the island, and can vote in local elections, and only they; this is what this proposal wants to change. The thing is that is after the third of the independence referenduns there, held 2021 in the middle of the pandemic and with a much lower attendance than the two previous ones, that was boycotted by the Kanyak groups and the 96.5% No vote for independence show that. The two previous ones in 2018 and 2020 had almost a 50/50 split with the No vote leading just by a very small margin. All three were all voted by the Caledonian citzenship holders. If these open up happened, it would make for a gigantic shuffle in local politics and even maybe the end of line for possible New Caledonian independence, due to the French natives having much more of a say in local votes. And alas, since that proposal gained traction...we got an conflict. Kanyak independist groups and the local authorites, if i recall correctly, have been in conflict this past days, causing a lot of damage in the island. One could read it as a civil unrest, or the start of a civil war(or independence war, depending of who wins?). Sebastien could explain much better than me about that and fill the gaps that i missed, as he has the french perspective, but i been looking this situation since an earlier protest as an effect of my olympic induced curiosity about the french oversea territories.

And the winner is Brazil! Saved you the trouble

Corrected that for you.

I think about the post you posted, @baron-pierreIV, about your guesses or suggestions for scenes from the opening ceremony. I recently came across this article in the Challenges newspaper, which at first glance has nothing to do with the opening ceremony. https://www.challenges.fr/france/jo-tony-estanguet-capitaine-de-paris-2024-navigue-dans-la-tempete_890467 Yet... It's funny, I almost have the impression that without meaning to, the article totally spoiled part of the opening ceremony. I mean, it makes me want to make a prediction. Where is the Académie française located? As luck would have it, on the banks of the Seine, just opposite the Louvre. And guess what? There is a bridge that connects these two monuments: the Pont des Arts. Another intriguing element: we know, according to the documents provided by the Minister of the Interior, that there will be no public in front of the Académie française, and that the Pont des Arts will host "logistical installations" ( = can be used for artistic elements of the opening ceremony). Other elements that we know, even if it has not been officially announced (but hey, given the extent of the rumor and the source, it's as if it were official), that Aya Nakamura will sing Edith Piaf. “the star of the opening ceremony” And it's funny, because we also know that the Piaf song that should be used would be... l'hymne à l'amour. And it turns out that the Pont des Arts is perhaps the bridge which most symbolizes the cliché of Paris, city of love (even if there are no longer the padlocks). It's starting to be too many coincidences. So, my prediction: During the opening ceremony, one of the 12 scenes will be on the theme of love/romance/etc., this will be where we will hear Piaf, with Aya Nakamura arriving through the front door of the Académie française to sing L'hymne à l'amour. The scene will take place on the Pont des Arts and could serve as a transition for the scene which will take place at the Louvre. Bonus point if it's done at sunset, with the sky taking on pink hues. (after all, Thomas Jolly said he intended to use different natural lights; reasons why the ceremony will only partially take place in the middle of the night) There you go, I'm making this prediction just because it would make me laugh if it's really going to happen like this on July 26: I'll just have to say "you read it here first". For the rest, knowing that the Académie française is the institution which dictates the rules of French language, given the numerous racist remarks that Aya Nakamura received, in particular on the fact that she "does not speak French in her songs", the imagine singing from the Académie française (so, it means having the validation, ultimately, of those who make the French language, les Académiciens, les Immortels), it would be a beautiful message sent to all the anti-wokistes that we hear in France.

Also, as has just been discussed in the typography thread, Munich also set the design template for almost every Olympics for the rest of the 20th century. It’s hard overestimate the legacy it left on Olympic design. I agree with Aussie Kiwi - until the attacks, it was well on course to being one of the best and most influential games of all time, and even after the attacks it’s influence was still stamped on successive games for decades.

And now the Brits; ceremonial… Team GB’s Olympic Games ceremony kit including updated Union Jack and Hawaiian-style floral shirt revealed

yep, you can see the two fonts I included here: then there's the emblem font as well. honestly I'm surprised the website for Olympic designs hasn't been linked yet in any of these polls (from what i've seen): https://www.theolympicdesign.com/ lots of cool stuff there, got a whole category on typefaces as well: https://www.theolympicdesign.com/olympic-games/typefaces/

If the 3rd referendum had taken place under normal conditions, there was a strong chance that the Yes vote would end up winning; something like 51/49. Because between the first two referendums, the Yes gained 5 points. So yes, clearly, COVID was a boon for the government to keep New Caledonia a few more years.

That's a good summary. In fact, New Caledonia is the last French colony. By this I mean that the way in which the French state manages the territory is much closer to what we experienced in the former French Algeria or other former colonies; it is not managed like a classic overseas territory like we have plenty of in France, or even in the United Kingdom to take another example. That is to say that today, you have a differentiation of the population between the Kanaks and the Caldoches (the descendants of European settlers), with customary institutions for the Kanaks and their laws, a particular electoral body depending on whether you are Kanak or Caldoches, etc. And today, for the moment, there have been 5 deaths including 3 Kanak civilians who were killed by Caldoches self-defense militias, who are setting up checkpoints in their neighborhoods of Nouméa. Because obviously, spatial segregation is obviously present. In short, it is our last colony, and the sense of history dictates that we will end up abandoning it one day; except that this reform which ignited the powder will delay the independence of New Caledonia which will inevitably end up arriving one day. For the rest, in the 1980s, New Caledonia was almost plunged into a civil war and it was necessary to wait for the signing of political agreements to succeed in finding a fragile peace for almost 40 years, with an accepted political process by all. The problem is that this process ended during the 3rd referendum of 2021 (very contested by the way), and Macron did ****. He, who obviously understands nothing about France and the French people, whether overseas or from mainland France, has broken with 40 years of tradition of dialogue and mediation between Caledonian political forces by deciding to force the hand. What did he expect?

É NOSSA!!! É DO BRASIL!!! Watch out for the americans, they removed their bid for 2027 to try to build on 2026 men's tournament. They should be your biggest rivals there. I hope i can pay the tickets to that and go see the party in person, it's even close enough to home! I would add that the opener should be in São Paulo, at (now Neo Quimica) Arena Corinthians, despite that place having host the opener of 2014 already. That team is already big enough at the men's side, but, oh boy, their ladies are the undisputed Queens of South American football with a rol of honror of players. No joke. Much of it under the reign of their former coach, now on the Seleção, Arthur Elias and their former Women's Football Director, also in CBF now, Cris Gambaré too but even now they're still at the top of the national league 91st stage)table, along the other São Paulo state teams. In the women's game, this state really is above the others, but the best teams of other states can give some trouble at least.

Zip-up sneakers and magnetic fasteners: Australia’s Paralympic Games kit revealed Is it just me? I like this better than our Olympic uniforms.

If you look closely at all the editions: 2015 Baku, 2019 Minsk, 2023 Krakow, 2027 Istanbul, it turns out that these are not the European Games, but rather the Eastern European / Asian Games. Western Europe is shying away from them by all means and clearly not interested in...

Exactly. What are such rankings based on. Political clout? Financial strength? Cultural influence? Liveability? Tourism attractiveness? Population size? It’s all just a melange of undefinable that are often just subjective anyway. Ditto for what makes a successful Olympic host or not.

I find that it makes absolutely no sense to think in Beta city, Alpha city, etc. If I look at the Wikipedia list, Dubai is considered an Alpha city while Berlin is a Beta city; let's be honest, there are perhaps objective reasons for this (financial power?) but it still seems absurd.

Good grief, calm down. Someone needs to go lay down on one of those anti-sex beds, 'haha'.

But I assume winter doesn't have the almost daily massive thunderstorms that mean you usually can't get any play at the Gabba after about 4-5pm. So it might be better

This is a poll idea that came up from a comment/suggestion by @venuedesignlover. It’s not something we’ve done before, but I thought could be interesting to discus and vote. A few comments on those presented. I’ve gone with totally original or specifically developed fonts used for particular games Those not listed or shown usually used standard Ariel, sans serif or times Roman fonts. The 1990s hosts, for example, all seemed to use Times Roman typefaces in their logos and signages. 2000 seemed to be the birth of the original created typefaces for logos and such, and while a few since then (SLC, Athens, Vancouver, PyeongChang and Tokyo*) have gone with standard sans serif types, we’ve otherwise seen some a trend to very new typefaces especially created for their Olympics. That’s not to say that those earlier fonts weren’t good or used effectively, but to me they didn’t break any new typographical or design ground. Feel free to disagree, show examples and state your case for other Olympic typefaces you think I’ve egregiously snubbed. Some of these types, especially Beijing, apparently have only been applied to the actual logos. Torino had other applications but I couldn’t find examples that worked well here. Sydney surprised me - I thought it was only used in the logo, but I found several examples of the full font type. Personally, though, I can’t recall it ever being used at the games beyond the logo. London, and then onwards, we started seeing applications of the full new typefaces across the look and in wider signage and materials. I suspect more use of online applications drove that a bit too. * The Tokyo one shown was NOT the one ultimately used. It was abandoned shortly after release following the plagiarism scandal surrounding the logo and they ultimately went with a standard sans serif font. But I was fascinated to see the disgraced logotype had already been used as the basis for a branding font for the games, and thought it as worth sharing and discussing. Personally I find it very intriguing, but very hard to read. ** The Milano-Cortina one is based on conjecture and a font they have just started using on their website. I’m surmising it is the games font (it was indeed what kicked off this thread/poll idea), but as far as I know nothing’s been said officially yet.

The shift away from Alpha only cities can only be a good thing - I just think the process that has led to Brisbane, and Brisbane's own infrastructure deficits - isn't the best example of it in action. I still think there is a place or the Durban, Manchester, Baku, or even Vancouver (as a SOG host) - if they are able to demonstrate a sustainable and well thought out plan. Olympic history until the 2000s was full of very successful non-Alpha cities that have left their mark: Helsinki, Melbourne, Munich, Montreal, Barcelona, Atlanta, etc... we just haven't had any recently. Brisbane will hopefully be the first of a new era of non-Alpha host cities (mixed in with some big names like Rome, Istanbul, etc) to keep up the variety. The one issue I have with the those Tier 1 Alphas is that they are unaffected by the Olympics. Its a blip on their identities and profiles. Paris will still be Paris after the Olympics. It wont be changed forever like Barcelona, Atlanta, and Sydney were.

for my 1,000th post i have a very important announcement: they're selling phyrge hats on the online store now https://shop.olympics.com/en/paris-2024/paris-2024-olympics-mascot-phrygian-hat-adult/t-9000115363+p-8033113788360+z-8-3226500412

There’s a lot to unpack in that. First, I’d say what cities are considered “exciting” as hosts depends a lot on individual preferences - like when you expressed a lack of enthusiasm for Budapest, yet other expressed how they’d find that prospect very attractive and enticing. Second, the IOC can only choose from locations that are interested at any particular time. The amount, and “quality”, of those cities will always depend on how popular and attractive the Olympics seem to be in popular opinion at that point, and that depends on lots of things - costs, world viewership, social attitudes etc. The challenges the Olympics face over the coming decades from things like global warming, international relations, the effects of generational change and digital and emerging media on public entertainment tastes etc will affect how attractive a proposition hosting the games will be in the future. As long as the IOC can successfully navigate those challenges, and adapt where needed to suit the times, and people still find the games popular to watch, there will always be cities and countries wanting to host them. in short, I just believe one we shouldn’t try to over-think hosts and hosting too far into the future. As fans, we should just hope the whole concept of the Games maintains its popular appeal. As long as it does, things will always tend to work out.

okay this might be weird, but is it just me or does anyone else like to put a ceremony in the background while they're doing work or studying or something? I've been working on this ~15 page final exam for the past few hours and had the PyeongChang 2018 and Athens 2004 ceremonies playing in the background to help me focus. something about music created or adapted for an olympic ceremony makes it hit just right for focusing, i dont know.

This is much too far from the Eiffel Tower stadium, which is about 1km from these griders. For the fireworks, I imagine that they will be fired directly from the Eiffel Tower, as for every Bastille Day.

Do we think the whole “Alpha only” era of the Olympics is over, with only those traditional “alpha” or “alpha+” cities of countries hosting? The Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London, Rio, Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles was a great run of cities I feel truly made the Olympic movement relevant and at least on the surface seem powerful and strong as an international institution because of the truly global weight of the cities it was being held at. It also coincidently follows the pattern of Europe (Moscow 1980, London 2012), americas (LA 1984, Rio 2016), Asia (seoul 1988, Tokyo 2020), Europe (Barcelona 1992, Paris 2024), Americas (Atlanta 1996, La 2028), Oceania (Sydney 2000, Brisbane 2032). But that’s besides the point. I know Brisbane 2032 is only happening because of Coates, but I feel as if we’re already running out of global cities that fit a specific type of international powerful brand that benefits the Olympic movement. Is this just me who feels this way about certain cities being attached to the Olympic brand? How do we think it will all pan out? I’d love to see either Germany 2036, Madrid 2036, or Istanbul 2036. I think those can help add some more international recognition for the Olympic brand. Do we see those global cities continuing to host or will the IOC settle for some lesser known ones? I feel those lesser known ones could host amazing games, but not add as much prestige for the Olympic brand. India or Africa, in the far future not 2036, would be huge for the Olympics (Not Ahmedabad though, but I guess that’s the way it’s all going to turn out).

The Soviet era segment of Sochi was magical...want a fantastic interpretation of a 'complicated' time. I watched the whole Athens Ceremony last week....sublime every time.

Sydney 2000 for me. Not any bias on my part as an Australian, but I think it was unmistakably fresh and fun following years of very staid and careful typeface. Having said that though, I do like the stateliness of Atlanta 1996 (I think the MS Font 'Georgia' is based on it?)

I used TheOlympicDesign.com a lot when I was doing the Look and Pictograms polls. Didn’t think to go there for the fonts (which was really just a whim that came up after @venuedesignlover was commenting on them in the Milano-Cortina thread). Looking through the typefaces there, the other miss - and I see now it was a MAJOR miss - was Mexico City 1968: My vote for Paris still stands, but the page above just made me realise yet again how ahead of its time Mexico was with its Olympic look and graphics. It really was an amazing, trend-setting games graphics-wise.

I'd like to see them pick Bern, purely because a) I've been there & it's a very nice little city but mainly b) most people here, at least on quiz shows, don't know it's the Swiss capital... but I assume it'll be Zurich. Good luck to everyone's bank accounts

vancouver 2010 snubbed...

What a twisted human you are.

You can look here https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/Olympic-Games/Future-Host/ioc-feasibility-assessment-future-olympic-winter-games-french-alps.pdf Just a few modifications in Nice: The stadium will be used as the main Hockey venue. And the closing ceremony will be on the "promenade des anglais".

Yes. Fencing 1976. After all, his idol JAS had a cameo in Lausanne 1989. In reality because of requirements, it will be Basel, Bern or Zürich though.

If they want to keep coherence with the flame-on-water theme of the torch relay they would definetely make flame(s) travel through the river.

That's it ! The Paris 2024 games are ruined! The Olympic cauldron in Manosque (today's stage town) did not light up due to technical problems. Thomas Jolly must be trembling with fear seeing this and praying that it doesn't happen for the opening ceremony... (at worst Notre-Dame can be used in case of emergency) https://rmcsport.bfmtv.com/jeux-olympiques/jo-2024-le-chaudron-olympique-de-manosque-n-a-pas-ete-allume-en-raison-de-soucis-techniques_AN-202405110391.html?at_brand=BFMTV&at_compte=BFMTV&at_plateforme=twitter&at_campaign=Fan_pages&at_medium=Community_Management

Quite happy that whole plagiarism scandal happened for Tokyo 2020. Could honestly not imagine the look of the games any differently than what it actually was. That proposed Tokyo 2020 font is a little too old-fashioned and I honestly love the basic, yet powerful actual font. Also love the Tokyo 2020 logo. Sydney and Rio are definitely by favorite “cursive fonts” out there. They’re both very welcoming and just really pleasant to look at. Sydney’s especially. Not a fan of Beijing 2008, but I am a fan of Beijing 2022. Beijing 2008 feels like Sydney 2.0, Beijing 2022 really added to the Beijing 2022 in a good way. Though it does feel a little too corporate. Also I’m loving the actual Milano Cortina emblem font that @Sir Rols displayed on the left. Something about that First M and last A extending like mountains make it so sleek and fashionable. Definitely one of my favorites so far but need to see it actually be implemented to like it. I’m also a fan of 2026 emblem itself. London and Sochi are iconic, and wouldn’t come off nice as fonts by themselves but the way they were implemented with the look really sold them for me. Athens 2004 is very simple, but very elegant and really captures something “modern Greek”.

Just at a quick glance, I like Rio's best. Quite playful.

I did these I suppose in 2006, just came across them.

As to my personal thoughts and preferences: I loved Sydney’s brand font, and rather proud we sparked off the more creative use of fonts. I could see though why it wasn’t more widely used - it would probably be messy and difficult to read, London gets high marks for fully embracing a new font. Like all it’s branding, it was edgy and possibly hard to love, but by God it was effective in distinctively branding those games. Loved Rio’s. It was attractive, distinctive and came sever so close to getting my vote for favourite, but at the end, that vote went to… Paris! What’s not to love about the Paris font? It’s classy, simple, elegant, fully embraces its art deco flavour. Magnifique! As has been nearly every aspect of Paris’ branding and design.

Something tells me he's not sowing his seeds in a fertile field...

USC and the Trojans still held their commencement program at the Coliseum with the Cauldron lit! U.S.C. Holds Graduation Event With No Mention of Protests or War - The New York Times (nytimes.com) You can feel 2028 coming!!

In the end, this ceremony was a bit like the Paris 2024 handover, but better. Very nice to see. Apparently, there were even more people than expected, especially along the Marseille coast. The gauge was announced at 150,000 people, but if we include those who were elsewhere than at the Old Port, I would not be surprised if the total attendance was 200-250k people. The funniest thing, ultimately, is having broken the attendance records for all the Olympic ceremonies... even though it's "just" for the arrival of the flame. Hoping that what was done today can give ideas to future host countries/cities, starting with LA 2028 in four years. In any case, clearly, the objective of the day has been largely achieved. For those who want to watch the replay on the Olympics YouTube channel (start at 31:59):

I feel like the final torch bearer will still be an athlete. This is a much more important Olympic tradition than the identity of who lights up the cauldron at the end of the day on the relay. I like that Jul got to light the cauldron tonight because it showed that the games are much more than a sporting event and it's a good way to get the people talking. In the end, the relay is nothing more than a big promotional tool to get people to pay notice to the games. It makes sense.

I think alot of it has to do with Nike/Adidas (and a handful of other big active wear brand) partnering with multiple NOCs more and more with each Olympics. Its homogenising everything.

Its silly stuff. They still could have incorporated the Seine and even Troc (cauldron) as part of the ceremony but it should never have been the main venues. The river still could have been included in fly overs (London 2012) or even in other ways (Melbourne 2006 cut to the river for fireworks, temporary fountains etc between segments within the stadium). I hope it works out whatever they do but as I said months back - it just appears to be plain and simple poor project management.

DITTO! And all these "sustainability boasts" they are making -- after all the extra scaffolding for temporary sitting -- the performing stages; the major transformation they are doing at Le Troc; the fuel of the 184 barges used. When all is said and done and all of that ripped out, how many trees were chopped down to build those temporary one-evening structures? The refuse and garbage being generated in all those areas participating in this open OC? How much of that is really NON-sustainable waste compared to what would have been used for a traditional show at Le Stade?

Delusional from the start to experiment with such an open plan concept in such a high risk setting. Paris 2024 and only have themselves to blame for any disappointment arising from last minute changes as they arrogantly bragged about having no Plan B only months back. Stadium ceremonies are not only secure, but they are theatre in the round. Thats part of the magic and why they work. Just ask every Olympic host since 1980.