The 2024 Olympics will bring a mix of remarkable and notable elements that will make the Games especially important this year. 

Not only will it usher in an entirely new Olympic era, which will mark a significant shift from the way the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has worked with host cities in the past, the 2024 Games are also imbued with several concerns, controversies, and celebrations that further set this event apart.

“The Paris Olympics are going to be quite special,” said Adam Beissel, associate professor of Sport Leadership and Management (SLAM). “It’s the beginning of a new era of what are being called ‘No-Build Olympics.’ The previous era began in 1984 in Los Angeles. That was the first time the Olympics were fully commercialized and really turned it into a mass commercial spectacle.”

Since the L.A. Games, and leading through Tokyo in 2020, the Olympics were essentially used by host cities as a catalyst to invest billions of dollars in the construction of physical infrastructure. However, this led to the creation of “white elephants” ​​ a term used to describe large structures (such as stadiums) that become largely unused after a sport mega event concludes and which end up causing financial strain on a city.

“The costs became so prohibitive that nobody wanted to host these things anymore,” Beissel said. “Because it turned out that those promises of financial windfalls became massive blights on those cities. Every Olympic Games since 1960 has gone over budget by an average of 172 percent and it's almost always the host cities and their residents that are left holding the bag.”

Therefore, the 2024 Olympics are being heralded as a much more sustainable model because Paris already supports all the infrastructure needed to host the Games. Even though the costs for Paris 2024 are still expected to approach $10 billion.

In addition to being a No-Build Olympics, Paris will also celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the last time it hosted back in 1924. 

Plus, several superstar U.S. athletes including swimmer Katie Ledecky and track and fielders Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone and Noah Lyles are also expected to increase interest among American viewers who are excited to see what is essentially the first true post-COVID Olympics.

“So in some ways this is also really a ‘back to the future,’” Beissel said. “We’re going back to something viewers are familiar with, but in a completely new way that's going to usher in a new Olympic era for the next generation.”

However, even amid these celebrations and milestones, the Games this year are also not without controversy and concern. Other noteworthy issues surrounding the 2024 Paris Olympics include:

Public safety and security 

According to Beissel, safety and security around recent sport mega events have been a concern globally, and in Paris, specifically. Events such as the 2022 UEFA Champions League final saw disenfranchised youth use Paris as a site to cause chaos that led to disorderly conduct and vandalism. In the end, critics blamed both the city and event organizers for the disorganization and unpreparedness that allowed the violence to escalate. 

“During the UEFA Champions League finals, Paris, quite frankly, was ill equipped to provide safe and secure facilities for fans. And that was just one event, in one stadium with 60,000 people,” Beissel said. “And now you're going to extrapolate that, and you're arguably going to have an even bigger microscope on the Olympics. So that's certainly something to watch for.” 

Sanitary concerns and environmental activists 

Because this will be the first No-Build Olympics, the plan is to use existing resources. For Paris, this includes natural landmarks such as the River Seine, which will not only be used for the opening ceremony, but also for events like canoeing and rowing. And massive environmental efforts have been underway to clean the river for the Games. However, critics and activists say not nearly enough progress has been made, and protests around (and in) the river are attempting to raise awareness around the environmental issues the city faces.

“The Seine is dirty,” Beissel said. “Leading up to the Games, the E. coli was 10 times the level allowed. So they've been pouring millions of dollars and countless hours trying to clean it up. And those who've been politically opposed to hosting the Games have done various protest mechanisms in the river. There was also a fantastic story a few weeks ago where the mayor of Paris announced that he was going to swim in the river to prove how safe it was. But it remains a large question of whether or not it'll be safe to use in time.”

Geopolitical unrest and human rights

Across Europe and many parts of the globe, increasing conflicts and political unrest could also potentially affect the Games. This year, there have been calls among pro-Palestine protesters to ban Israel from competing. And because of the war in Ukraine, Russian and Belarusian athletes are banned from participating under the banner of those respective countries. 

Finally, Paris has also denied its athletes from wearing the hijab – a headscarf worn by some Muslim women – during the competition. According to former French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera, the goal is to ensure neutrality by “respecting principles of secularism.” 

“This is where you have the difference between local laws and customs, which, in France, prohibits women from participating wearing the hijab,” Beissel said. “But then you have the IOC, which, in their charter, permits women to wear them. So the question is: Should the IOC dictate local law? In the abstract, most people would argue that local laws established through the democratic process should supersede those policies of an unelected non-governmental organization like the IOC. However, what happens when those local laws violate basic human rights, women's rights, and personal freedoms? In this case, the local laws win out much to the displeasure of human rights activists and the international community.” 

The 2024 Olympics will run from Friday, July 26, through Sunday, Aug. 11.