Champions Park, France club, 2024 club… Where can you celebrate and bring together medals and champions of the Games in a year’s time?

“Open great games”. The mantra of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee (Cojop) is repeated at will, on Monday 24 July, for the presentation of the venues of the celebration. The place of the announcement – in the Parc de la Villette, in the 19th arrondissement of the capital – is a first symbol given that it is here that the French club will be held in just over a year. Where the tricolor medalists will come to celebrate their performances, thus constituting the beating heart of the party.

However, many other venues will allow the Olympic and Paralympic experience to be enjoyed throughout France and will be accessible free of charge. “We want the public to participate in the event, and this for four months of celebration, from 8 May with the Olympic torch relay until the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games on 8 September 2024”, says Michaël Aloisio, Deputy CEO of Paris 2024.

The Champions Park at the Trocadéro, extra time to celebrate the athletes

Installed at the Trocadéro (Paris 16), at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, the Champions Park will allow spectators to experience a privileged moment with more than 1,000 medal-winning athletes, who will parade for a walkabout and a moment of communion unprecedented in the history of the Games. Already tested during the Tokyo Games, when the French medalists returned from Japan, this time the device will be installed for the entire duration of the competition, from 29 July to 10 August 2024 (except from 2 to 4 August due to the cycling races and the finish of the march), from 16:00 to 23:30.

“We are not replacing the awards, we are adding time to celebrate champions, bring together sports fans and experience the big finals together on big screens”, specifies the two-time Olympic fencing champion, Brice Guyart. Access will be free and within the limit of the expected tonnage, estimated at 15,000 people a day.

The French club in La Villette to celebrate the Blues

True beating heart of the French team during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the French club will strictly speaking be the only fan-zone dedicated to the Blues. Located in the Parc de la Villette (Paris 19), it will welcome the tricolor medalists who will come to share with their families, loved ones but also the general public, as during the Rio and London Games.

In parallel with the broadcast of the events, dozens of sporting experiences, artistic activities and cultural exhibitions will be scheduled for 28 days (from 27 July to 11 August 2024, then from 29 August to 8 September 2024), from 10:00 to 2:00. Various sports federations will take place in the pavilions, while the National Olympic and Paralympic Committees (Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Slovenia…) will also be present in the Park.

If access is free during the day, it will be “partially paid for in the evening” in the Grande Halle, a price yet to be communicated. “Up to 700 000 people are expected for a historic celebration”explain Stéphane Goudeau, executive director of the French club, and Elie Patrigeon, director general of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee.

Celebrations in Paris and Île-de-France

23 sites stamped “city of Paris” will join the Champions Park and the French club already present in the capital. All the town halls of the arrondissement (except the 7th, which already hosts the competition sites) will set up free spaces in emblematic places such as the town hall or the Climate Academy. Also in this case sporting and cultural activities will be proposed, as well as the rebroadcasting of events but also catering spaces.

The average calibers of 500 people instantly are, for the moment, expected but “this remains to be perfected”, confesses Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of sport. The opening of these sites will take place on 25 or 26 July 2024, until the end of the Paralympic Games.

In Seine-Saint-Denis, free celebrations will be set up in the Georges-Valbon departmental park in La Courneuve. Concerts, sports and para-sports activities (canoeing, sailing, climbing wall, skate park, 3×3 basketball…), workshops on eco-responsibility… A site resolutely family-focused and which will also live to the rhythm of the Games, from 25 July to 11 August 2024, then from 6 to 8 September 2024 during the Paralympic Games (from 2pm to 10pm, and until midnight on six evenings with concerts).

It should also be noted that the Saint-Denis canal will have its share of festivities and will connect with the competition venues, starting from the French club in La Villette to arrive at the Stade de France and the Olympic aquatic center.

2024 clubs throughout France, “celebration kit” and interactive map of the Games

It is not only in Paris and Île-de-France that it will be possible to experience the Games. “We want to take advantage of the event to make it a great popular celebration throughout the territory”, recalls Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, Minister of Sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 239 local authorities – starting from March 2023 – have expressed an interest in hosting the “2024 clubs”, i.e. places of celebration that can be customized and flexible, both in terms of content (sports and cultural activities, concerts, screens for following events, etc.) and in format (times, opening days, indicators).

At the same time, a “celebration kit”, including decorations in the colors of Paris 2024, could be made available to local actors (associations, sports clubs, bars and restaurants, museums, leisure centres, etc.) in cities. An interactive map for the general public will be put online at the end of April 2024. This tool, which will be accessible from the official Games application, will allow, via a geolocation system, to have information on the activities offered around you (shops, 2024 clubs, Cultural Olympics, broadcasting of events in bars, sporting initiations, etc.) and to list all the events related to Paris 2024.