The Paris Olympics already has one gold medal in the bag before it begins with 8.6 million tickets sold – a record for any Games.
“It’s a record held by the 1996 Atlanta Games of 8.3 million tickets, and we’ve already passed that total now some time ago,” the 2024 Games organiser Tony Estanguet said on Thursday.
“We are at 8.6 million tickets for the Olympics, and over one million for the Paralympics,” he reported.
Paris organisers forecast that total rising to 10 million for the July 26-August 11 sporting extravaganza, and 3.4 million for the Paralympics staged between August 28 and September 8.
“The good news is that in this final stretch we are making available a number of tickets for lots of sports,” Estanguet said.
“There are lots of really good options at different prices both for the Olympics, Paralympics, and opening and closing ceremonies,” Estanguet said.
He told reporters on Thursday: “We are proud to have already beaten the record, but we can still do even better.”
This year, Paris will host the Olympic Games for a third time, a record shared with London, a testament to the international prestige of the two major European cities that are also two of the world’s most popular tourist destinations.
The Paris 2024 Organising Committee told China Daily the sale of pack tickets began on Feb 15, 2023 following a draw process that was held between Dec 1, 2022 and Jan 31, 2023.
Single tickets became available in May 2023.