On Sunday 8 August, during the Closing Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Games, Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, received the Olympic Flag from the Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike. Paris thereby officially became the next city to host the Olympic Games, 100 years after it last did so in 1924. Paris 2024 wanted to use its first ceremony to provide a taste of its ambition to make the Games more open than ever. More than 5,000 people attended the Handover Ceremony held between Tokyo and the Trocadero Gardens in Paris, in the presence of French medal-winning athletes from Tokyo 2020

A taste of Paris 2024

For its first ceremony, Paris 2024 took the Games out of the stadium: from the national anthem, integrated for the first time into the artistic segment, to the BMX race on the roofs of Paris. The ceremony was conceived as a meeting of sport and the new host city – from its iconic landmarks to places of everyday Parisian life, and even to space thanks to a surprise appearance from French astronaut, Thomas Pesquet.

This artistic concept reflected the project’s ambition to take sport out of its traditional spaces. The Paris 2024 Games will be open to the city, with temporary competition venues at the foot of the most famous French landmarks and the first Opening Ceremony in the history of the Games to take place in the city, at the heart of Paris, on the Seine.

This ceremony ended with the spectacular image of a flag with the Paris 2024 emlbem at the top of the Eiffel Tower, which was captured during the flag test on 8 June in Paris.

Paris 2024 also wanted the public at home to be able to experience this ceremony. Led by the medal-winning athletes of the French team in Tokyo, more than 5,000 people celebrated the arrival of the Games in France, in the presence of Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024.

For this ceremony, Paris 2024 collaborated with a new generation of athletes and French creative talent who brought a fresh and modern touch to proceedings: Woodkid for the musical composition, Victor Le Masne for the re-orchestration of the Marseillaise, Chloé Dufresne as the conductor of the Orchestre National de France and Valentin Petit for the direction.

The Olympic flag arrives in France on 9 August
The flag handed over to the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, in the Olympic Stadium will officially return to France on Monday August 9th, accompanied by the last group of French athletes Teams to return from Tokyo.

The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo and Paris 2024 President, Tony Estanguet, wish to share this symbol with the people of France. A flag tour will be organised throughout France, particularly in the Games host communities, starting with the Seine-Saint-Denis region, after the Paralympic Games.

Paris is proud to take the baton from Tokyo and is ready to put its exceptional playground at the service of athletes, sport and the Games.