The most beautiful avenue in the world is quite empty on this national holiday. While the opening ceremony of the Paris Games is scheduled for Friday, July 26, and Olympic facilities are springing up all over the capital, the July 14 festivities have been exceptionally moved to Sunday, a stone’s throw from the Champs-Elysées, on the Avenue Foch (dand the Arc de Triomphe at the Place du Maréchal-de-Lattre-de-Tassigny). It’sThis is the second time in its history that the parade is held on this side of the 16th arrondissement, the first time being in 1918, more than 100 years ago! Follow the event live with us.
The program. The starting signal is given at 9:20 with the troops on foot who will descend from the heights of Avenue Foch, followed at 9:45 by the detachments of the Republican Guard. Emmanuel Macron should then arrive by Avenue de Friedland fifteen minutes later. The parade will continue in the air, then with the troops on foot and on horseback. The President of the Republic will leave Avenue Foch a little before noon.
The Olympic Games are joining the party. The theme of “Olympism and the armies” was chosen for this somewhat special day, as was that of the 80th anniversary of the Liberation. A hundred young people should form the Olympic rings in front of the presidential stand. Colonel Thibaut Vallette, chief equerry of the Cadre Noir de Saumur (elite French riders), gold medalist at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, will carry the Olympic flame on horseback to the presidential stand, before handing over to athletes.
The parade in a few figures. This year, 4,000 military personnel are mobilized for the event, compared to nearly 5,000 for the 2023 edition, according to ministry figures. Also taking part will be 37 aircraft, 162 horses of the Republican Guard and 22 helicopters.
The traditional fireworks orphaned by its audience. The highly anticipated fireworks display in the capital will indeed be launched from the Eiffel Tower on Sunday evening, but without the presence of the public, “the Trocadero and the Champ-de-Mars [où s’amassent d’ordinaire les Franciliens] being assembled for the Paris 2024 Games”justified the Paris city hall. The show will be broadcast in its entirety on France Télévisions.