One Year to Go: IOC invites NOCs and their best athletes to the Olympic Games

• ROAD TO PARIS 2024

With exactly one year to go until the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today officially invited the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and their best athletes to take part in the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, which will take place from 26 July to 11 August 2024.

During a ceremony held at Paris 2024’s “Pulse” headquarters, IOC President Thomas Bach symbolically presented invitations to the presidents and representatives of the NOCs of Greece, as the birthplace of the Olympic Games, and of the host countries of recent and upcoming Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games, as well as the IOC’s Refugee Olympic Team.

A new era of Olympic and Paralympic Games

Speaking at the ceremony, President Bach expressed his excitement at welcoming the world to Paris for what will be a “new era” for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as the first planned and delivered in line with the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020, serving as a blueprint that will help shape future editions of the Olympic Games and inspire other major events. 

“Today, one year from the Olympic Games Paris 2024, we are celebrating a new stage in this great Olympic history that is ours,” IOC President Bach said. “With the Olympic Games Paris 2024, we can truly look forward to the advent of a new era of Olympic Games. These Olympic Games will be more inclusive, younger, more urban and more sustainable. These will be the very first Olympic Games held with perfect gender parity. In this way and in many other ways, we can expect an Olympic Games that conforms to our Olympic Agenda from start to finish.”

• As the first Games that are fully adapting to the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020, Paris 2024 has minimised construction. The Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held in 95 per cent existing or temporary venues.
• Paris 2024 is also targeting 50 per cent reduction of carbon emissions compared to the average of London 2012 and Rio 2016 to become the first Olympic Games aligned with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which the governments of this world signed in 2015 in Paris.
• The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will be the first ever Olympic Games with gender parity. The IOC has allocated exactly the same number of quota places to female and male athletes.
• Competitions will take place in the heart of Paris, for instance at the Eiffel Tower and the Place de la Concorde. For the first time ever in Olympic history, we will celebrate the Olympic Opening Ceremony in the heart of the city, with the River Seine as the stage for a sensational welcome to the best athletes of the world, by hundreds of thousands of people along the river bank.
• Every visitor will not only be a spectator, but can also be a participant. Paris 2024 has succeeded in getting a daily 30-minute exercise period in the curricula of French primary schools, aiming to reach 4.2 million pupils nationwide. The “Marathon Pour Tous” [“Marathon for All”] will give 40,000 runners the unique experience to run their race on the very course of the Olympic marathon.

“The mission of the Olympic Games is to unite the entire world in peaceful competition,” added President Bach during the invitation ceremony. “In our fragile world, with conflicts, divisions and wars rising, we need this unifying power more than ever. The Olympic Games must always build bridges of understanding and friendship.”

The NOCs receiving invitations during the ceremony were:

• - Hellenic Olympic Committee (Greece being the birthplace of the Olympic Games), represented by NOC President and IOC Member Spyros Capralos
• - Japanese Olympic Committee (Olympic Games Tokyo 2020), represented by Yasuhiro Yamashita, NOC President, IOC Member and Olympic champion in judo
• - Chinese Olympic Committee (Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022), represented by Zhang Jiasheng, NOC Vice-President
• - Italian National Olympic Committee (Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026), represented by Giulia Quintavalle, member of the NOC council and Olympic champion in judo
• - United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (Olympic Games LA28), represented by Elena Meyers Taylor, NOC Board Member and five-time Olympic medallist in bobsleigh
• - Australian Olympic Committee (Olympic Games Brisbane 2032), represented by Alex Hill, Olympic champion in rowing
• - Senegalese National Olympic and Sports Committee (Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026), represented by Mamadou D. Ndiaye, NOC President and IOC Member
• - The IOC’s Refugee Olympic Team, represented by Masomah Ali Zada, member of the Tokyo 2020 IOC Refugee Olympic Team in cycling and holder of an IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship
• - French National Olympic and Sports Committee (Olympic Games Paris 2024), represented by NOC President and IOC Member David Lappartient.

In total, invitations to Paris 2024 have been sent to 203 eligible NOCs. This excludes the NOC of Guatemala, which is currently suspended, as well as the NOCs of Russia and Belarus. The IOC has previously announced that it will take its decision on the participation of individual, neutral athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport, in line with the recommendations for International Federations and international sports event organisers on the participation of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport in international competitions, at the appropriate time. 

Excitement is growing

Excitement in France and around the world is already growing ahead of Paris 2024, as seen by the huge demand for tickets. Nearly seven million tickets have been purchased so far, with the Paris 2024 Organising Committee committed to realising its goal of making the “Games wide open” and accessible to as many people as possible. This includes an affordable ticket pricing structure, with tickets for all sports available for as little as EUR 24 for the Olympic Games and EUR 15 for the Paralympic Games, and with around 50 per cent of public tickets costing EUR 50 or less.

Preparations continue for the Games

Prior to receiving their invitations to the Games, the NOC representatives present in Paris joined President Bach on a tour of the Olympic Village, before experiencing a special celebration with athletes and other key stakeholders on the River Seine.

The invitation ceremony, which featured several performances celebrating French culture, also saw the IOC’s Paris 2024 Coordination Commission Chair, Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant, and Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet outline the latest progress that has been made in organising next year’s Olympic Games, while expressing their excitement and anticipation as preparations enter their final year.

Recent achievements include the successful staging of the sailing test event in Marseille, officially marking the start of Paris 2024’s testing programme, and the hosting of the Chefs de Mission Seminar, welcoming representatives of NOCs from around the world to help prepare their delegations for the Games.

Casa Italia opens its doors to Milano 2023. Malagò: “from this Olympic city a bridge towards Paris 2024”

• FENCING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Casa Italia lights up Milano 2023. Awaiting the opening ceremony of the Fencing World Championships, to be held tomorrow with the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, the CONI hospitality house officially opened its doors in the presence, among others, of CONI President, Giovanni Malagò the President of the Milano 2023 Organising Committee, Marco Fichera, the President of Federscherma, Paolo Azzi, the President of the European Fencing Confederation, Giorgio Scarso, the Milan Sports Councillor, Martina Riva, and Claudia Colla, the new Head of the Milan Regional Office of the European Commission. Guest of honour was the Olympic foil champion, Elisa Di Francisca.

“The minute Milan was nominated, we immediately thought of great synergies, in this bridge between the Olympic cities of Milan and Paris,” revealed Malagò, who acknowledged that the Fencing World Championships is an important step towards the Milano Cortina 2026 Games. “The Fencing World Championships,” continued Malagò, “was conceived a long time ago with the help of key figures who played fundamental roles: Giorgio Scarso, the President of the Federation, Paolo Azzi and Marco Fichera, a former fencer who now has the honour of being the President of the Organising Committee of these wonderful world championships. This Wednesday marks one year to the Games in Paris 2024 and all the organising committees have been invited to Paris to celebrate it. We will do so here at Casa Italia, in a symbolically important moment to be experienced in the Olympic city of Milan.”

“With Casa Italia, CONI wanted to unify the project with the Fencing World Championships; it is an important added value,” remarked Fichera. “A place like this is not only the home of the athletes but home to everyone. We are all on the eve of a test; tomorrow the medals will be awarded and President Mattarella will be here.”

“We are at Casa Italia, thanks to CONI, we are at the House of the Municipality of Milan, which has made everything available to us,” stressed Azzi. “It is a world championship of many firsts: the first time in Milan, the first time with Casa Italia and the first time with the opening of the President of the Republic. Our athletes have prepared well and have done everything they could to match the great work that has gone into this enormous event.” “Good luck to Milan and Italy,” Scarso added.

Representing the Municipality of Milan was the Councillor for Sport, Tourism and Youth Policies, Martina Riva: “It is a thrill to be here tonight, the dream is finally a reality today and it will be an example for all the other sporting events that Milan is set to host. It is great proof of our common goal with CONI – the goal of Milano Cortina 2026.”

Also present at the opening of Casa Italia, set up for the occasion at the Dazi di Milano venue, in Piazza Sempione, were representatives of the European Commission. “The European Commission is here at Casa Italia,” said Claudia Colla, “We are experiencing a special moment. Tonight I am thrilled, but we want to reaffirm once again the support of the European Commission for Milan, Lombardy and the whole of Italy.”

The Fencing World Championships 2023 represents a fundamental step on the path towards the next Games; indeed, in addition to the medals, there will be a significant points haul towards Paris 2024.

In support of the Organising Committee and the Partners of the Italia Team in Paris, CONI will bring its experience by way of Casa Italia, located in a strategic position for the event at the Medal Plaza, set up in front of the Arco della Pace, and open to the public who will be able to experience all the thrills of the event.

Casa Italia will celebrate top-level sport fused with Italian excellence in all its forms, from art to design, from tradition to the most state-of-the-art forms of technology. The two Dazi (historic tool booths) at the sides of the Arch will be brought to life with two completely different targets: the Dazio di Levante is dedicated to the Olympic and fencing experience, thanks to CONI’s Mostra delle Fiaccole (torch exhibition) and the contribution of the Botticino Museum of Martial Arts; while correspondingly, the Dazio di Ponente will offer partners and stakeholders hospitality typical of Casa Italia’s Made in Italy excellence.

It will be in the Dazi itself that the CONI National Board will be hosted tomorrow, the National Council, meanwhile, will be held in the Torre Allianz – home of Milano Cortina 2026 – in conjunction with the event in a year’s time in Paris 2024 on 26 July. The Medal Plaza will also host an acrobatic show dedicated to sport, in which the dancers of the Kataklò company will alternate with athletes from four sporting disciplines (fencing, rhythmic gymnastics, taekwondo and breakdance), in a choral show with an Olympic theme.

The exhibition of Olympic torches, with free admission for all visitors, will include the torches from the last four editions of the Summer Games (Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020), as well as those of the Games held in Italy (Cortina 1956, Rome 1960, Turin 2006), flanked by the official uniforms worn by the champions of the Italia Team, including the outfits to be worn by our athletes at the coming Olympic Games in Paris 2024. An approach that passes through the most significant images of the past towards Paris 2024 and then, above all, Milano Cortina 2026.

Thanks to the scientific support from the Museum of Martial Arts, CONI also intertwines the threads of history that inextricably link fencing, the Italian Renaissance and the city of Milan. Through the pages of important treatises by three fencing masters, Camillo Agrippa, Pietro Monte and Federico Ghisliero – all interconnected in various ways to the city of Milan and its illustrious cultural environment – we are able to trace the development of the discipline, through anatomical, physical, and philosophical studies that determined its rise to the rank of an art form.

In that extraordinary era from 1500 to 1600, the conception of carrying a sword changed, from being a weapon of offence and defence in battle, to being perceived as a distinctive sign of chivalry and all its moral and cultural values. Here, in these treatises, the precepts, which would later become the rules of sport fencing, are flank

to the research that was being undertaken at that time by men such as Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo Galilei.

At Casa Italia’s side, there are well-established partners to best express the project’s core principles: Edra, representative of the most innovative Italian manufacturing since Rio 2016, which will decorate the Casa with pieces that have become icons such as the Boa and Tatlin sofas, and the Rose, Favela and Margherita armchairs; Ethimo, with its outdoor decor in a revamped traditional style.

(Photo Simone Ferraro - CONI)

Fukuoka World Championships: Italy’s 4x100 freestyle team wins silver medal and Olympic quota place

• SWIMMING

Alessandro Miressi, Manuel Frigo, Lorenzo Zazzeri and Thomas Ceccon: the members of the team behind Italy’s first great achievement in the pool at the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

The Azzurri (photo federnuoto - Andrea Staccioli, Giorgio Scala and Andrea Masini / DBM Deepbluemedia) finished second in the 4x100 freestyle relay with a time of 3:10.49. Australia claimed gold (3:10.16) and third place went to the USA with a time of 3:10.81.

The silver medal was also enough to grant Italy the Olympic pass. Indeed, the relay athletes on the podium at the Fukuoka World Championships also return home with a national place for the Paris 2024 Games. Italy was among the contenders here. And it will be in Paris.

Elena Bertocchi flies into the final from 3 metres at the World Championships in Fukuoka and gives Italy another Olympic quota place

• DIVING

Another excellent result for Elena Bertocchi at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

After the bronze medal and Olympic pass won alongside Chiara Pellacani in the 3m synchro, the Italian diver also qualified for the final in the individual 3-metre competition.

The 28-year-old from Milan (photo ANSA) completed the semi-final with a score of 303.05, enough to advance to the final act of the event.

The result guarantees Italy another Olympic national spot for the Paris 2024 Games.

Also qualifying for the final was Chiara Pellacani (304.95 points), who had previously won the Olympic pass in her speciality at the European Games in Krakow.

Fukuoka World Championships: Tocci and Marsaglia reach the final from 3 metres, grabbing two Olympic quota places

• DIVING

Leonardo Fioravanti claims his ticket for Paris 2024 and dreams of a medal in Tahiti

• SURFING

Leonardo Fioravanti has qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The surfer from Rome made it as far as the round of 16 of the Corona Open J-Bay, in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, the ninth stage of the World Surf League Championship Tour. He was narrowly defeated by Australian Jack Robinson (14.00 to 13.54) but accrued enough points for his second Olympic experience following his first outing when he took the place of the injured Jordy Smith in Tokyo 2020.

With only the tenth stage of the Tour, scheduled for August in Teahupoʻo, French Polynesia, the same venue of the 2024 Olympic Games and then the finals in September in California, Fioravanti (photo ANSA) occupies ninth place in the rankings, but for the Olympic qualification he is virtually seventh because ahead of him are four Brazilian surfers, only the top two of whom will gain the right to compete at the Games. With ten individual passes up for grabs, the Roman is thus already certain of being able to fly to Tahiti.

For Fioravanti, this will be his second Olympics, after his debut in Tokyo 2020, the surfing discipline’s maiden appearance at the Olympic Games. In Japan, Fioravanti took the place of South African Smith and was then eliminated in the third round – the round of 16 – by Peruvian Lucca Mesinas. On this occasion he fully deserved the trip to Tahiti: he will have a year to prepare for the competition and seek a historic result for the Italian Waterski and Wakeboard Federation led by commissioner Carlo Mornati, CONI secretary general and head of mission of the Italia Team at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Meeting of the NOC leaders, Mornati: “The main competition venues are ready.” In September visit of the Olympic TDs

• PARIS 2024

The leaders of the National Olympic Committees concluded their five-day visit to the Paris 2024 Olympic venues. 

CONI Secretary General and Head of Mission of the Italia Team for the next Olympic Games, Carlo Mornati, followed the work promoted by the Organising Committee together with the Head of Olympic Preparation Alessio Palombi.

The first part of the meetings, with the heads of the NOCs, provided details into all the aspects and organisational requirements of each participating team. 

This was followed by general meetings with updates on all the specific details regarding each function: logistics, transport, accommodation, accreditation, security, etc.

Two days were then needed to inspect the Olympic sites, the various competition venues and the Olympic Village. 

The meetings with the Organising Committee also served to plan the visit that CONI will organise at the end of September with all the technical directors of the various Olympic disciplines to get a first-hand view of all the respective competition venues and make the stay and the approach to the Olympic Games even more effective. 

Secretary General Mornati vouched for the progress made on all the facilities, describing it as optimal with about a year still to go before the Games get underway: "The main venues are ready; the temporary structures remain, and they will be built from next March. We are almost there".

Fukuoka World Championships: Bronze and Olympic pass for Pellacani and Bertocchi in the 3m synchro

• DIVING

Second Olympic pass in diving for Italia Team.

At the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships (Japan), Chiara Pellacani and Elena Bertocchi clinched bronze in the 3-metre springboard synchro.

In addition to the medal, the Italian women (photo Giorgio Scala/DBM) also secured for Italy the Olympic quota berth for the three best-placed pairs.

The women also delivered a great showing at the Prefectural Pool, to take sixth spot at the end of the preliminary phase. In the final, Pellacani and Bertocchi wrapped up the five rounds with a total of 285.99 points. The final round, in which the Italian duo managed to oust the Americans from the podium, proved decisive. Gold and silver went to China (341.94) and Great Britain (296.58) respectively.

Chiara Pellacani, who at the recent European Games in Cracow (Poland) had already guaranteed Italy a national place for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris by winning the 3-metre springboard, will once again play a prominent part.

Italy waves goodbye to the Marseille Olympic Test Event with a double podium finish

• SAILING

A double podium for Italian sailing on the eighth and final day of racing in Marseille, venue for the Test Event of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei took first place in the Nacra 17 class.

An excellent performance for the Italian pair (photo FIV), after yesterday’s accident that had destroyed part of the left bow of their catamaran, saw them leave Finland and Great Britain in their wake.

Nicolò Renna’s performance was also noteworthy. He finished in third place in the iQFoil, the new Olympic windsurfing class.  Ahead of him were Nicolas Goyard, competing at home, and Germany’s Sebastian Kordel.

Encouraging signs, then, for the Italian delegation with just under a month to go before the World Championships in The Hague (Netherlands), which will award the first quota spots for the Olympics.

Test Event Marseille, Chiara Benini Floriani finishes 3rd in ILCA 6

• SAILING

First podium for Italian sailing in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games test event in progress in the waters of Marseille. Chiara Benini Floriani finished in fourth place in a comeback in the ILCA 6 medal race, enough to confirm third spot in the final classification with 70 points. 

The Italian (photo FIV) leaves Marseille with three podium places out of eleven races and in very high spirits. Only the Dutchwoman Marit Bouwmeester (44 points) and Dane Anne-Marie Rindom (63 points) were able to outclass her.

Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini, meanwhile, had no hopes of a podium place in the ILCA 7, although he played a leading role in an excellent medal race to take fourth place. The Italian secured ninth overall place in the race won by the Australian Matt Wearn. 

There were some regrets, however, for Giacomo Ferrari and Bianca Caruso in the 470 mixed. The Italian pair closed the medal race in ninth place, slipping from fourth to ninth in a final ranking dominated by French duo Camille Lecointre and Jeremie Mion, with Germans Malte Winkel and Anastasiya Winkel in runner-up spot and Spaniards Jordi Xammar Hernandez and Nora Brugman Cabot in third.