Current, former Auburn University student-athletes to compete against world’s best
BY ANITA STIEFEL
EDITOR@OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM
WORLDWIDE — The Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics (officially, the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad) is set for Friday, July 26, in Paris, France. In Alabama, the Opening Ceremony will be aired on live television on NBC and its streaming channel Peacock starting at 11 a.m.
NBC, its cable networks and Peacock will provide coverage of the Games each day through the Closing Ceremony, which will air at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 11. At least nine hours of programming is expected to be aired daily, and the best time to watch live competitions will be in the mornings and afternoons, as Paris is seven hours ahead of U.S. Central Standard Time. Each evening, NBC will air a three-hour recap of the day’s highlights.
Athletes from more than 200 countries around the world will compete in 34 Olympic sports, including a new competition that will debut in Paris — breaking. Popular with youth all over the world, this new urban sport combines art, dance and music as well as strength and athleticism.
Paris will also see an expansion in sport climbing. At the Tokyo Games, a single climbing event was added, combining three disciplines: speed climbing, bouldering and lead climbing. At Paris 2024, the program will be expanded to include two separate events — speed climbing and a separate lead and boulder event.
In creating new sports programming, the aim of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was to select sports which 1) Reflect the modern world, 2) are dynamic with the promise of exceptional performances to excite spectators and 3) bring something different to the program. New sports, such as skateboarding and short board surfing, which debuted at the 2020 Tokyo Games, are fully gender-balanced and aimed at inspiring creativity and participation of new audiences, especially among young people, according to a press packet from Paris 2024.
Two athletes with local ties will be competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Auburn University’s Makanakishe Charamba, a junior majoring in accounting who helped AU’s track team to an NCAA national relay championship in May, will compete in the men’s 200-meter sprint on the Olympic team from Zimbabwe, his home country. Also, Sunisa Lee, who competed with the AU gymnastics team for two seasons, will defend her 2020 Olympic gold medal.
