For the first time since it was awarded the Games, the Organising Committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will play host to around thirty National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) from the five continents as part of its two-day Welcome Days event. The aim of the event is to present the Paris 2024 project to these representatives, involve them in its development, and enable them to plan ahead for the Games. This is the first time that such an event has been organised five years ahead of the Games.

“The 206 National Olympic Committees and 184 National Paralympic Committees are major contributors to the success and smooth-running of the Games,” announced Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet. “The meetings between the host country and the NOCs/NPCs usually start in the four years running up to the Games, after the most recent Olympics. With the permission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), we wanted to bring these discussions forward to respond to the requests from a number of NOCs and NPCs who wanted to meet with Paris 2024, to share the details of our project with them, show them around our facilities, and step up our ambition to innovate and develop these Games together.”

Developing the Games with Paris 2024’s major international contributors

Five years ahead of the Games, Paris 2024 is embarking on a project to co-develop the Games with the various National Olympic and Paralympic Committees, something which has never been attempted at this scale or within this time frame, so far ahead of the event.

These Welcome Days, organised over two days and running until tomorrow evening, will allow Paris 2024 to involve 26 NOCs and 13 NPCs, of various sizes and representing the five continents, in the project’s development. Paris 2024 hopes to make use of these representatives’ experience, expectations and cultures to enhance certain key aspects of its project, such as the Olympic Village and the celebratory aspect. Themes such as “Sport and the climate” and “International cooperation and commitment” will be the topics of work groups, in which each representative’s expectations and recommendations will be taken into consideration.

Paris 2024 made sure to involve prominent Olympic nations such as the United States, China, Russia, Great Britain, Brazil and Japan in its Welcome Days, as well as smaller countries such as the State of Eritrea, Guatemala and Andorra, to collect as wide a range of information as possible.

Paris 2024 already initiated an international discussion back in April, when its athletes’ commission sought the opinions of champions from all over the world at the International Athletes’ Forum organised by the IOC in Lausanne. On this occasion, 53 athletes – representing 24 countries, 23 disciplines and 13 editions of the Games – were consulted about a specific Olympic Village-related project.

This two-day event will also give Paris 2024 the opportunity to present its full project and Olympic and Paralympic concepts by way of site visits. Organised in two stages, these visits will allow the various delegations to start thinking ahead to the Games, by estimating their transfer times, for example, or planning where they might stay.

Schedule for the two days (4 and 5 July)

Paris 2024 has drawn up a four-part schedule to fulfil the ambitious objectives of this two-day event: inform (plenary session), plan ahead (site visits), and co-develop (themed workshops):
- Plenary meeting to present the project - Paris Centre site visits - Greater Paris site visits - Themed workshops: - Workshop 1 “Sport and the Climate” - Workshop 2 “Village” - Workshop 3 “Celebrations” - Workshop 4 “International cooperation and commitment”

The delegations present
- Andorra (NOC) - Australia (NOC and NPC)
- Belgium (NOC and NPC)
- Brazil (NOC and NPC)
- Canada (NOC and NPC)
- Central African Republic (NOC)
- China (NOC)
- Eritrea (NOC) - France (NOC and NPC) - Germany (NOC) - Great Britain (NOC and NPC) - Guatemala (NOC)
- Italy (NOC)
- Japan (NPC)
- Kazakhstan (NOC)
- Luxemburg (NOC) - Morocco (NPC) - Netherlands (NOC)
-New Zealand (NOC)
- Norway (NOC)
- Portugal (NOC and NPC)
- Republic of Ireland (NOC and NPC)
- Romania (NOC)
- Russia (NOC)
- Senegal (NOC)
- Slovakia (NPC)
- Sweden (NOC)
- Taiwan (NOC)
- Tunisia (NPC)
- United States (NOC and NPC)