Paris Summer Olympics

The Paris 2024 Olympics will take place July 26-August 11, 2024, and will feature the world’s top athletes. 

Four new sports will be featured at the Paris Olympics which are skateboarding, surfing, breaking and sport climbing. 32 different sports will be featured at the games. Three sports that were featured in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will not make an appearance in the 2024 Olympics, including baseball, softball and karate. 

The games will take place in Paris as the main host city and 16 other cities spread across the metropolitan of France. The Olympics will feature many events across some of Paris’s most famous landmarks such as beach volleyball that will be played beneath the Eiffel Tower.

“When I went to Paris last year I saw some of the stadiums and areas where the games will take place. I think that it will be a fun place to hold the games and it will be an electric environment for the athletes,” stated senior Ryan Opfer. 

Iowa’s very own Caitlin Clark was invited to the U.S.A. basketball training camp along with 13 other players. Clark had to skip the camp due to Iowa making the Final Four, but will still be considered for the final roster. If Clark makes the roster she would be on a team that includes WNBA legends and upcoming superstars. The U.S. team will be heavy favorites to repeat regardless of the addition of Clark but she may be a helping hand for the team to win gold. 

“I’m most looking forward to watching the women’s basketball team, and the gymnastics team,” stated junior Payton Smith.

Basketball stars Lebron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant are three of the 12 players who will play for the USA basketball men’s team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. This will be Curry’s first Olympic appearance while Durant is going for his fourth Olympic Gold medal and James will try and win his third. The U.S. men have won four straight Olympic gold medals and will be heavy favorites to win the fourth consecutive. 

Simone Biles is also aiming for her third straight Olympic team. Biles is the most decorated American gymnast and is looking to add to her seven Olympic medals. During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Biles battled with a mental block called “twisties” which resulted in her removing her name from most of the competition. 

“I think the most interesting [Sport] is gymnastics. It’s so interesting to see how much better the girls get. It’s a sport I don’t watch very often but I find it crazy how the girls can do the things they can,” stated sophomore Mali Svendson.