I have loved the Olympics for as long as I can remember. It’s what drove me to try figure skating and gymnastics as a child (both unsuccessfully, I might add). I love everything about it – learning about the random sports that I didn’t know existed, the international camaraderie, the inspiring stories of overcoming the odds to make it to the world stage. The memory of the Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremonies will forever be seared into my brain. I’ve always wanted to go to experience it live, and when I found out it would be in Paris, one of my all time favorite cities, in 2024, I booked the tickets immediately!
I went through the official hospitality website for our tickets, where I selected a package that included the hotel stay and two events, along with transportation around the city. From there, I added on two more events for the time frame that we were looking at being in Paris, so we had a total of four events across three days and two nights. We minimized the time we spent in Paris that wasn’t directly related to the Olympics, although it turned out that’s what everyone was doing and it was actually really pleasant to be in the city doing the tourist activities during the time we did have!
When we weren’t at Olympic events, we did a lot of sightseeing! We went to Musée d’Orsay to get in some culture, went up to Sacre Coeur, and wandered through as much of the city as we could within the time we had. We even managed to meet up with a few friends for meals. Sam had never been to Paris before beyond spending the night in a horrible hotel near the train station after one of his connections was cancelled, so I was excited for the chance to show him how amazing the city can be.
Plus, it was all decked out for the Olympics! I loved all the signs featuring their mascot reminding guests to recycle, and the rings and logo almost everywhere you looked. The train stations had signage on the floor leading you to the lines that you needed to take to get to the venues. It was also cool to get a glimpse of some of the “behind the scenes” components – I loved the “official timekeeper” buses we passed right next to the Seine.
Our first event was Track and Field. I truly could not have picked a better event to start at. First of all, we had an awesome lineup. We had seven events: Men’s 400m semi-final, Women’s Hammer Throw final, Women’s 400m Hurdles semi-final, Men’s Long Jump final, Men’s 1500m Final, Women’s 3000m Steeplechase final, and Women’s 200m final. The night started out with a few medal ceremonies, which was cool but we couldn’t see much from the angle of our seats, and then the competition started!
Beyond the actual events that we saw, though, Track and Field is one of those events that feels like the quintessential Olympic experience. In the US, at least, it always makes primetime coverage, so it’s one that I grew up watching, and it’s also very clear who the winners and losers are. There’s not much background you need to understand it. We saw the races that my friends and family were talking about the next day. We saw Olympic records being set and races that were decided by photo finish. It was incredible.
Also, there’s something about seeing all of these sports live that lets you appreciate just what it takes to do them. Yes, I know they jump really freaking far in the long jump, but seeing the setup in person emphasizes it so much better than on TV. The hammer throw, too – watching how far those women could throw across the field was amazing. The athleticism on display was so spectacular across the board!
The next morning, we headed out to an entirely different part of the city to go to our next event: Sport Climbing! Climbing was introduced as an Olympic sport in Tokyo in 2021, along with surfing and skateboarding. Of the three, I thought surfing was cool (although it was held in French Tahiti on the other side of the world for these Olympics), skateboarding was kind of lame (although they did a much better job with the venue in Paris, what I saw on TV was a lot more exciting this time around), and climbing was cooler than I expected it to be.
In Tokyo, they had it as one combined event, with three scores evenly weighted: Bouldering, which is how many short “problems” you can solve in a given time frame; Lead, which is how far you can get up a very tough course before falling; and Speed, which is a set course that climbers get up as fast as they can. Speed climbing is kind of a different entity, and there isn’t much overlap between that and the types of climbers who excel at the other two components, so they did a smart thing and separated those out in Paris. Our set of events was the Men’s Lead semi-final and the Women’s Speed final, which also included the quarterfinals and semifinals because they go just that fast.
Climbing was a great spectator sport. While the physicality is important, there’s also an element of strategy and problem solving on display, and watching the climbers back-to-back meant we could watch how different athletes approached the various sections. Also, the stakes are high – they only get one attempt, and a fall off the wall means they’re done.
And then, when we got to speed climbing… I saw it once before on TV, at the Tokyo games, but holy shit. It is unreal. That photo above this paragraph is the final times of the gold medal run for the women. Watching them scramble up that wall in under seven seconds seemed impossible. If one finger or toe missed one hold, they were out of the race.
Also, these were objectively our best seats. Setting aside that I know that from their category, their location, and their price point, we got another clue…. I ended up sitting right behind someone famous! Specifically, Chris Sharma, who I have been informed is rock climbing royalty.
Did I know who he was, when he sat in front of me? Of course not. I think climbing is cool but I don’t follow it regularly. As a matter of fact, when he first sat down, he was a little late and so I had held out a sliver of hope that maybe the seat in front of me would just be open only to have that hope dashed. And he’s reasonably tall. Which is not a trait you want in the person sitting in front of you in a crowd.
But my slight annoyance quickly turned into intrigue when a woman with a microphone came and pulled him out of the crowd to do an interview in the middle of the session. As soon as there was a break in the action, people from all over the arena were coming over to shake his hand, and get photos with him, and have him sign autographs. They were telling him how much he had inspired them. Finally, I turned to the guy on the other side of me, who clearly knew things about climbing, and I asked him.
“So, is this guy a big deal, in the climbing world?” I said.
“Yeah, he’s actually… he’s kind of the biggest deal?” he replied.
Later, when I sent a photo to a friend of mine who does follow climbing, she confirmed his name (which I’d figured out from Google but did want to verify) and told me that he was “the Brad Pitt of climbing.” Even if I couldn’t fully appreciate his level of celebrity in the moment, it was really cool to feel as though we were present for something important. To learn more about the history of what I was watching, one hastily searched famous rock climber at a time.
From there, we headed to our next event, which was Diving!
I love watching diving on TV, but I found it a little harder to follow in real life. I’ve realized that I don’t actually know that much about what makes it good, and I really like seeing the slow motion shots and where they draw the angles over them – which, surprise, don’t feature in the live prelims of the event. It was cool to see an aquatic event, and helped add to the diversity of the types of athletic events that we saw, but I don’t think I appreciated it as much as I could have if I’d known a bit more about the sport.
From there, we headed back into the city to check out the Clubhouse 24 in Palais de Tokyo! We had access through the hospitality package, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I thought it was really cool. When we came in, they gave us a welcome snack and drink, and then we got to explore their various Olympics exhibits. We even got to meet our new fav, the Paris 2024 mascot!
Definitely worth the visit, especially if you’re an Olympic nerd like me. The food court was pretty good as well, and we grabbed dinner there. They had lots of viewing areas set up as well, but we had a long day ahead of us the next day and opted to head back to the hotel instead.
Our final event of the trip was Rhythmic Gymnastics! We went to two rounds of the Individual All-Around Qualifying. Note – only women do Rhythmic Gymnastics, and there are individual and team events.
This one hasn’t taken off as much in the US, mostly because we’re not historically very competitive at it. Of all the Olympic sports, this has always felt the most like dance to me, so I’ve always loved it. At the very least, I know what to look for, even if I don’t know the names of all the elements and the difficulty levels. And they’ve started letting them use more fun music, which makes it a lot more entertaining.
We saw them do two rounds, the ball and the hoop. They also have to compete with the ribbons and the clubs, which was the other session later in the day. Sam said he would have been happy with only one round, but I felt as though I was back in one of the dance competitions in my childhood and absolutely could have kept watching!
But alas, our time at the Olympics had come to an end. We had a few more hours to do visit a few more tourist sites, and then it was back to the airport to head to our next destination.
I had the most amazing time at the Olympics. It was, without a doubt, one of the best experiences of my life, and I am so beyond grateful that I got to experience it in all its glory in Paris. It was a true bucket list item for me and it managed to live up to all my expectations. Next up, Sam and I continue the journey with a flight to Vienna and then a journey back to Paris by train and the occasional bus!