 "India's first Olympic event today: Why some events start before the opening ceremony")
The Paris 2024 Olympics is underway even though the official start is scheduled for 26 July with an elaborate opening ceremony along the Seine River in France. The Olympics ‘unofficially’ began on 24 July with football and rugby Sevens competition, while women’s handball and archery individual ranking rounds are scheduled for 25 July.
India will only be in action in the archery ranking around where all six archers will compete.
Paris Olympics LIVE Updates: Archers get India's campaign underway
Why Paris Olympics started before the opening ceremony?
It’s a common theme, at least for football, to start in advance at every Olympics as it’s a highly physical sport in which the teams cannot play every day. To ensure that they get at least 48 hours of recovery period, the football matches are scheduled to start in advance.
Benjamin Ceugnart, Competitions Calendar Project Manager at Paris 2024, explaining the situation said: “Since the Barcelona 1992 Games, football has started ahead of the opening ceremony. What’s more, the players can’t play every day, so they need a recovery period of at least 48 hours.’ As a result, the men’s teams will play on D-2 and the women’s teams on D-1.”
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The early start for Rigby Sevens and handball is a new concept but because the sports are sharing venues with other games, it was decided to start them in advance.
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More Shorts“Handball starts on D-1, for the women, because it will take place in a shared competition venue during the pools organised at the South Paris Arena 6,” Ceugnart said. “So we had to make sure we had enough time to guarantee the transition between handball and weightlifting, which will follow at this venue.”
“It’s exactly the same concept for rugby sevens. The competition also starts on D-2 because the Stade de France will then host the athletics.”
This will help the organisers to host all the team tournaments swiftly and on time.
India at Paris Olympics 2024: All you need to know
It is to be noted that there will be no elimination rounds before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics and no medals will be awarded before the Games officially begin.
“Under IOC rules, there is one principle that must be respected: no medals are awarded and no athletes are eliminated before the opening ceremony”, Ceugnart added.
_Click here to check the full list of Indian athletes at the Paris Olympics 2024_
_Click here for all Paris Olympics 2024 frequently asked questions (FAQs)_
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