Paris, Las Vegas and Montreal will in turn attract the attention of sports fans at one time or another during the year 2024 with the presentation of major events. The show is already salivating.
• Read also: The world welcomes 2024!
• Read also: What 2024 has in store for us on the international scene
Big Olympic Games?
Location: Paris (France)
Dates: July 26 to August 11
The spotlight will be on the City of Lights next summer, when the Olympic Games will take place in Paris from July 26 to August 11. This is the third time that this major sporting gathering has been held in Paris, after the 1900 Games and those of 1924. This return to the capital of France promises to be spectacular, while offering a more traditional nod to these international Games relaunched, in the modern era, by Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
AFP
Canada won 24 medals, including 7 gold, at the most recent Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. In athletics, Damian Warner dazzled the world by winning the decathlon while Andre De Grasse won the 200 meters. Female athletes also filled the Canadian population with pride by climbing to the highest step of the podium, through their soccer team, swimmer Margaret McNeil, track cyclist Kelsey Mitchell, rowing eight without forgetting the Quebec weightlifter Maude Charron. The latter will again be one to watch in Paris. After missing the World Weightlifting Championships last September due to a knee injury, Charron notably won a silver medal at the Pan American Games this fall in Chile.
After the Olympic Games, Paris will also present the Paralympic Games between August 28 and September 8.
Maude Charron, gold medalist at the last Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Dominick Gravel/QMI Agency
A colorful Super Bowl
Location: Las Vegas (United States)
Date: February 11
Everything can seem more beautiful, bigger, more spectacular when it comes to Las Vegas, the capital of abundance. Now imagine that for the first time in 58 editions, the Super Bowl, the high mass of American football, will take place in the state of Nevada… This obviously risks turning into opulence from many points of view. Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders which cost nearly US$2 billion to build, will host the party on February 11. More than 70,000 spectators will be on hand while American singer Usher is set to be the main star of the halftime show. While waiting to know the craziest promotions that will accompany the event, the rest of the activities in the NFL will obviously determine the two clubs that will be in the spotlight. Champions last February, will the Kansas City Chiefs have the chance to defend their title? The contenders who want to celebrate in Las Vegas are numerous, to say the least.
AFP
The world figure skating elite at the Bell Center
Location: Montreal (Canada)
Date: March 18 to 24
Fans gathered at the Bell Center will not be entitled to Canadian hockey matches, but to the World Figure Skating Championships during the second half of March. More than 200 athletes among the world’s elite in the discipline will be in Montreal from around fifty countries. Japan risks being in the spotlight with Shoma Uno, for the men, and Kaori Sakamoto, for the women. These Japanese athletes are each double reigning champions at the World Championships. Canada’s hopes of a podium finish rest partly on the ice dancing couple of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.
Kaori Sakamoto, proud representative of Japan.
AFP
Euro 2024: for football fans
Location: Germany
Dates: June 14 to July 14
The next Soccer World Cup is not scheduled until 2026, but football fans will not be left out next year with the presentation of Euro 2024 in Germany. The cities of Berlin, Munich, Dortmund and Stuttgart are among those which will host the games. Exclusively for men, the major competition must feature a total of 24 national teams from Europe, divided into six groups for the first round. Remember that Italy won the most recent edition of this European Championship, in 2021, after defeating England in the final. This tournament was also postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was only a second Italian coronation in the Euro after that of 1968.
AFP
Good baseball in Thunder Bay!
Location: Thunder Bay (Canada)
Dates: July 28 to August 3
The best baseball players in the world, including many from Quebec, are meeting in Thunder Bay, Ontario, for the Women’s World Cup. In addition to the Canadian team, five other nations managed to qualify for this final phase: Japan, the United States, Mexico, Venezuela and Taiwan. On the program: a round-robin tournament at the end of which the two best teams will face off on August 3 for the title of champion. The Japanese are the big favorites, having won the previous six competitions between 2008 and 2018. In eight editions in total, Canada has collected two silver medals and four bronze medals.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY BASEBALL CANADA
At the Royal Montreal Golf Club
Location: Montreal (Canada)
Dates: September 24 to 29
A major international event organized by the PGA Tour is also planned in the metropolitan region in 2024, that is to say in September, at the Royal Montreal Golf Club, located in L’Île-Bizard. This is the second time that the Presidents Cup has been presented at what is considered the oldest golf club in North America. However, we can expect a more impressive event than in 2007. Jim Furyk will act as captain of the American team while the international team, which brings together other countries from around the world excluding those from Europe, will be led by Canadian golfer Mike Weir. The international team will be looking for a first triumph since 1998.
Mike Weir and Jim Furyk.
Photo Joël Lemay / QMI Agency