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The organisers of Paris 2024 say the parliamentary elections called by French President Emmanuel Macron will not disrupt preparations for the Games.
However, the mayor of the French capital says holding elections less than a month before the Games begin is “extremely unsettling”.
When are the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games?
There will be 206 countries represented at the Olympics, and 184 at the Paralympics.
How could the French elections affect the Olympics?
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo says she has “difficulty understanding” why President Macron has called the elections so close to the event.
“A dissolution just before the Games… is extremely unsettling,” she says.
However, the head of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, Tony Estanguet, insists his team is ready to deliver the Games.
Where will Olympic and Paralympic events take place?
The main athletics events will be held at the Stade de France, on the northern outskirts of Paris.
However, there will be 15 Olympic and 11 Paralympic venues in the city centre. For example, the Pont d’Iena will host cycling events, and the start and finish points for the marathon will be at the Hotel de Ville and Les Invalides.
How are France’s security forces preparing for the Olympics?
The event is expected to see the national teams parading in boats along a 6km (3.8 mile) stretch of the River Seine through the centre of the capital.
The original plan was to give free tickets to 600,000 members of the public to watch from the banks. Now, however, tickets will go to only 300,000 invited guests.
Has Russia been banned from Paris 2024?
Neither Russia nor Belarus is allowed to send teams, because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’s support for it.
They will not be allowed to take part in the opening ceremony and will not have their national anthems played, or their national flags raised, if they win medals.
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Russia has said it is “outraged” at its athletes’ treatment and has announced a “World Friendship Games” in Moscow and Yekaterinburg in September.
The Soviet Union held a similar event in 1984, after boycotting the summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Has Israel been banned from Paris 2024?
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov criticised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for not also barring Israel from taking part, because of its military operation in Gaza.
What is the Olympic Refugee team?
Members come from 11 different countries – including 15 from Iran and five from Syria – and they will be competing in 12 sports.
Are the Games popular in France?
Bus and metro fares will double in the capital during the Games.
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The Olympic and Paralympic Village and a new aquatics centre are in a region north of Paris called Seine-Saint-Denis – one of the poorest parts of France.
Many Parisians are irritated at the security restrictions which will be imposed in the city centre.
“Paris will be unbearable,” one resident told the BBC. “Impossible to park; impossible to move around; impossible to do anything.”
