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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

How to watch the Paris Olympics on TV in France

Those in France have the option of watching some events live, but if you prefer to watch on TV, here's where to find coverage of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics.

Published: 19 July 2024 16:02 CEST
Updated: 27 July 2024 07:37 CEST
How to watch the Paris Olympics on TV in France
The athletes' village for the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics games. Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP

Paris is hosting this year’s summer Olympics and Paralympics and although most events are in and around the capital there are some competitions behind held in other parts of France, including sailing in Marseille and football in several towns including Lille, Lyon, Bordeaux and Rennes.

MAP Find the Paris Olympic locations

If you don’t yet have tickets – there are still some Olympics tickets available via the official ticket site plus more on the resale site. Meanwhile tickets for the Paralympics (which run between August 28th and September 8th) remain available.

Big screens

If you are in or around Paris you will find big screens and fan parks showing a selections of Games events, starting with the opening ceremony which takes place in the evening of Friday, July 26th.

How to watch the Olympics opening ceremony

The Paris fan parks will continue to broadcast coverage throughout the Games.

Several of France’s other big cities also have fan zones – including Marseille which is hosting a giant screen on the beach, allowing visitors to simultaneously sunbathe and watch sports. 

Likewise sports bars and cafés around France may be showing some or all of the Games on TV.

On TV

But if you prefer to remain at home, the good news that there is lots of TV coverage and all of it is on the free-to-air channels.

The opening ceremony will be screened on France 2, France 3 and France 4, plus the pay TV channel Eurosport, from 7.30pm to 11pm on Friday, July 26th.

As you would expect, France is quite excited about its home Games and the state broadcaster France Télévisions is committed to showing all events. These will be split between the TV channels France 2 and France 3 and the online platform france.tv/paris-24

On terrestrial TV, France 2 and France 3 go into ‘Olympics mode’ from July 27th – France 2 will be showing a mix of live coverage and round-ups from 6.30am to 11.15pm each day, while France 3 will run the same from 8.55am to 11.30pm. The broad breakdown is that France 3 will concentrate nf team sports while France 2 focuses more in individual events, although there will undoubtedly be some crossover.

Meanwhile the online platform will have in-depth coverage of, among other things, the urban sports.

Naturally the French coverage will be in French. If you want to watch with English commentary you can head to France 24 which will be providing some coverage, or watch some of the foreign broadcasters (subject to rights and accessibility) such as the UK’s BBC, Ireland’s RTE or the USA’s NBC.

You can find the list of TV channels across the world who will show Olympics coverage HERE.

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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

France bids final farewell to Olympics with Champs-Elysees parade

France bid a final and reluctant farewell to the Paris Olympics on Saturday with a parade on the Champs-Elysees followed by a concert featuring artists from the opening and closing ceremonies.

Published: 15 September 2024 09:40 CEST
France bids final farewell to Olympics with Champs-Elysees parade

The final event of an acclaimed summer of sport saw tens of thousands of fans gather on the French capital’s most famous avenue to applaud and cheer the nation’s new sporting heroes.

Around 70,000 people gathered for the parade featuring athletes, volunteers and public sector workers, which was followed by a multi-artist concert on a spectacular stage around the Arc de Triomphe.

“Saying thanks, not just to the athletes but to everyone who made these games magic, I think it’s fabulous,” said France’s most-decorated track athlete, Marie-Jose Perec, who lit the cauldron at the start of the Games on July 26.

“It’s a beautiful way of saying goodbye because everything must come to an end and tonight it will all be over,” the visibly emotional 200m and 400m triple gold medallist told reporters as she arrived.

Around 4,000 police were called out for a final test, having won almost almost unanimous praise for the way they kept around 12 million ticket holders for the Olympics and Paralympics safe.

After months of gloom and self-doubt in the run-up to the start of the Olympics, Parisians and the country at large threw themselves into the spirit of the Games once the sport began.

They embraced new champions such as triple gold medal-winning swimmer Leon Marchand while finding fresh reasons to celebrate veterans such as judoka Teddy Riner who won his fourth Olympic title.

“Thank you, thank you, it’s been incredible!” Riner shouted to the cheering crowd.

He, Marchand and Rugby Sevens star Antoine Dupont were among more than 100 French medal winners who were awarded the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest civilian award, in a ceremony at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe led by French President Emmanuel Macron.

The French team finished the Olympics with a record medals haul of 64, including 16 golds, securing fifth place on the international table.

The Paralympic Games from August 28-September 8 were hailed as “the most spectacular ever” by the head of the International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons.

Escapism

Analysts say the Games served as a form of escapism for many French people worried about the direction of the country as well as generating a rare form of national union and pride.

“Everything worked, everything functioned and French people rediscovered the virtues of national cohesion,” the head of the French Olympic Committee, David Lappartient, told reporters.

Macron is seeking to take advantage of this more positive mood, having faced widespread criticism for his decision to call snap parliamentary elections in June which blindsided Paris 2024 organisers.

The vote resulted in a hung parliament and historic gains for the far-right National Rally party.

Instead of making a speech, he recorded a poetic voiceover over images of the Olympics and Paralympics, saying it was “a summer that had already become part of French sporting legend.”

The 46-year-old was the main instigator of Saturday’s event, which was not originally part of the Olympic or Paralympic programme.

The centrist has also announced his intention to create an Olympics-inspired “national day of sport” every year on September 14.

“We need to spend time together at a day of sport, which would take place in the street, schools, in dedicated sports centres,” he told the Parisien.

Saturday night’s concert featured singer Chris, formerly of Christine & the Queens, who performed at the Paralympics opening ceremony, as well as blind Malian duo Amadou & Mariam among others.

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