As usual, it’s a tightly-kept secret who’ll be final torchbearer at opening ceremony
The opening ceremony on Friday Paris will be historic in that it will be the first in Olympic ceremony to not take place in a stadium setting when athletes are paraded in boats down the Seine River.
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But one way the ceremony is very much following tradition is in how the French — as do all the host countries and cities — are trying to keep it top secret as to who will be the final torchbearer and light the flame.
One website is guessing that the favorite to do so is French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane, who scored two goals in France’s 3-0 win over Brazil in the 1998 World Cup Final.
Other candidates mentioned were Marie-Jo Pérec, a former sprinter and three-time gold medalist for France in track and field, and Martin Fourcade, a seven-time Olympic medalist in biathlon (5 gold) who is France’s most decorated Olympian in either the Summer or Winter Olympics.
If France decides to go for more modern name recognition, current stars such as Kylian Mbappé or Victor Wembanyama could be selected.
Or, it could be none of the above and France will unveil a big surprise to the world. Everyone will find out soon enough.
First medal event to take place hours after opening ceremony
It won’t take long for the first medals to be decided once the flame is lit to officially open the Games.
The first medal event of the Games will start at 4:30 a.m. ET when the 10m air rifle mixed team shooting event takes place.
The American tandem of Mary Tucker and Lucas Kozeniesky won silver at the event in Tokyo. Tucker qualified again for the Paris Games.
Los Angeles 2028 already announcing venue plans
While the world will be focused on Paris for the next couple of weeks, organizers for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles are already on the move when it comes to venue announcements.
Most notable is that the swimming competition will be held in the roughly 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium, which hosted the Super Bowl in 2022.
The stadium will be configured for a crowd of roughly 38,000 for the event, but it will still be the largest-ever swimming venue at an Olympics.
In addition, organizers announced that the softball and canoe slalom events will happen in another state. Both events will take place in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, due to that area having more suitable venues.