International Olympic Committee

26 July 2024 – Please find below the full speech delivered by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 today, 26 July 2024.

Good evening Paris! Good evening France!

Dear athletes,

Dear President of the French Republic, Mr. Emmanuel Macron,

Dear President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, my fellow Olympian and dear friend, Tony Estanguet,

Dear Mayor of Paris, Mrs. Anne Hidalgo,

Your Excellencies,

Dear Olympic friends,

Finally, the moment has arrived: welcome to the Olympic Games Paris 2024!

My heartfelt thanks go to our gracious French hosts. Thank you for welcoming us in such a spectacular way. The Olympic flame will make Paris and all of France shine even brighter.

We are deeply grateful to all our French friends. First and foremost to the President of the French Republic. All our gratitude also goes to the public authorities at all levels as well as the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, under the excellent leadership of my fellow Olympian, Tony Estanguet. You are bringing our Olympic Agenda reforms to life by making these Games wide open. All of us will experience Olympic Games that are more inclusive, more urban, younger and more sustainable – the first Olympic Games with full gender parity on the field of play.

A special thanks goes to the thousands of volunteers. Thank you for your commitment. Your smiles make us fall in love even more with Paris and France.

Our thanks also go to whole team of the Organising Committee, of the public services and to everyone who is contributing to make these Olympic Games an unforgettable experience.

What better place than Paris, to share this magic of the Olympic Games with the whole world.

Paris, the birthplace of our founder, Pierre de Coubertin, to whom we owe everything.

Paris, City of Light, where he created the modern Olympic Games.

Paris, City of Love.

Thank you, France, for this magical welcome.

Dear fellow athletes,

This is the pinnacle of your Olympic journey. You have come to Paris as athletes. Now you are Olympians.

Stepping into the Olympic Village, you realise like generations of Olympians before: now I am part of something bigger than myself. Now we are part of an event that unites the world in peace.

In our Olympic world, there is no “global south” or “global north”. We all respect the same rules and each other. In our Olympic world, we all belong.

As Olympians, we care for each other. We do not only respect each other, we live in solidarity with each other. All of you have experienced this and benefitted from our Olympic solidarity on your long journey to finally becoming Olympians. This solidarity is made possible through the generous support of all our Media Rights Holders and TOP Partners. All together, we thank them and everyone who supported you on your Olympic journey.

In a world torn apart by wars and conflicts, it is thanks to this solidarity that we can all come together tonight, uniting the athletes from the territories of all 206 National Olympic Committees and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.

Welcome to the best athletes of the world – welcome, Olympians!

Some may say, we in the Olympic world, we are dreamers.

But we are not the only ones.

And our dream is coming true tonight: a reality for everyone to see. Olympians from all around the globe, showing us what greatness we humans are capable of.

So I invite everybody: dream with us. Like the Olympic athletes, be inspired with the joy that only sport can give us. Let us celebrate this Olympic spirit of living life in peace, as the one and only humankind, united in all our diversity.

This is why tonight, with my heart full of emotions, I invite the whole world: let us celebrate this joy of sport together with all the athletes. Have faith in the future. Together, let us celebrate the best of our shared humanity.

Long live the Olympic Games! Long live France!

Now I have the great honour of inviting the President of the French Republic, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, to declare open the Games of the 33rd Olympiad Paris 2024.