Exactly a century after the last Olympics held in Paris, France, let’s take a look back at the historical photo collection from the 1924 Paris Olympic Games to see how sports have evolved over the years.
The U.S. gymnastics team training. During that Olympic Games, the American sports delegation dominated, bringing home a total of 99 medals – (Photo: Bettmann/Getty Images).
The Olympic Games have returned to the dreamy city of Paris after 100 years, officially opening on July 26. This marks the third time the Olympics have been hosted in France, with previous occasions in 1900 and 1924.
Additionally, this event marks Paris’s third time hosting the Olympics, a feat that matches the city of London.
So, what has changed in this global sporting event over the past 100 years?
Let’s explore through this collection of historical photos compiled by The Atlantic to see how the Olympics specifically and sports around the world in general have transformed.
A Century of Change at the Paris Olympics
One hundred years ago, the Paris 1924 Olympics featured over 3,000 athletes (135 women and 2,954 men) from 44 countries coming to France to compete. This included countries like Ecuador, Ireland, Lithuania, the Philippines, and Uruguay, which participated for the first time.
This number is quite modest compared to the 2024 Olympics, which will see over 10,000 athletes from 206 countries and territories participating.
Olympic Stadium Colombes viewed from above, located near the Seine River. In the image, spectators are lined up to watch the final football match between Switzerland and Uruguay – (Photo: AFP).
Unlike the grand opening ceremony of the Olympics we just experienced, which spanned 6 kilometers along the scenic Seine River, the opening ceremony of the 1924 Summer Olympics was a ceremonial event held at the Olympic Stadium Colombes – the main stadium for that Olympic Games.
This venue also hosted important Olympic competitions such as athletics, cycling, equestrian, gymnastics, tennis, football, rugby, and two of the five modern pentathlon events (running, fencing).
Some images from the opening ceremony of the Paris Summer Olympics 1924 – (Photo: AFP/Reuters/Hulton Archive)
The event schedule at that time was also entirely different from the Paris 2024 Olympics; specifically, the 1924 Paris Olympics lasted for two months (from May 4 to July 27) instead of two weeks as it is today.
Notably, the Olympic Games that year only contested 17 sports with 126 medal events, whereas the 2024 Olympics will feature 32 sports and 329 medal events.
Some side notes to illustrate the differences in organizational scale between the two periods:
- The 1924 Summer Olympics were held at 19 venues, with the largest venue being the previously mentioned Olympic Stadium Colombes, which had a capacity of 45,000 spectators.
Some images of athletes competing at the Paris 1924 Olympic Games – (Photo: AFP/Reuters/Hulton Archive).
- The Summer Olympics 2024 will be held at 32 venues, with Stade de France being the largest, accommodating 80,698 spectators.
- The 1924 Summer Olympics attracted approximately 635,000 people to France to watch the event in person.
- The Paris city government estimates that no less than 15 million people will attend the Summer Olympics 2024, including 2 million foreign tourists.
Regarding the sports contested, most sports at that time did not have categories for women (including athletics, football, wrestling, and boxing).
In football, the 1924 Paris Olympics was the first time a world championship in football was held. Even FIFA regards the Olympic gold medal in 1924 as equivalent to the World Cup title.
Documentary footage of the football final at the 1924 Paris Olympics
That year, Uruguay won the gold medal.
Although they were participating in their first Olympics, Uruguay maintained an unbeaten streak until the final and defeated Switzerland with a score of 3-0.
The Paris Olympics was also the last time tennis was included as a competitive sport until 1988 at the Seoul Olympics.
In terms of media coverage, only over 1,000 reporters and journalists attended to cover the 1924 Olympics, while that number for the 2024 Olympics is expected to reach 6,000 (according to statistics from the Paris 2024 Olympics website).
