sport news A record-breaking opening ceremony, a brand new event and plush new top ... trends now

There is a feeling that Paris bears a greater weight on its shoulders than any other host city in recent years, as the world gears up for the return of the Olympic and Paralympic Games next summer. 

While many of the other superpowers on the global stage have had two bites at the cherry - London, Los Angeles, Tokyo, even Athens - Paris has been made to wait a century for its turn at hosting the Olympic Games a second time. 

There is an anticipation that, with such a glamourous canvas to work with, the Games will be one of splendour and spectacle, but with fewer than nine months to go until the opening ceremony, expectation is building. 

But there is something more to it than that. Is it the fact that the world was in many ways robbed of the full exhibition that Tokyo promised to be three years ago, cruelly stifled by the Covid-19 pandemic? 

Could it be the fact that 100 years have passed since the world flocked to the French capital for such a festival of sport? Or is it just that a city like Paris cannot be judged like any other? 

We have undeniably been spoiled by recent Games, which have given the world some of the all-time great Olympians and Paralympians, living up to the moment against truly memorable backdrops. 

This in many ways is the key task for any supporting actor; asserting yourself on the stage such that your influence is felt, yet ceding the audience's attention at the right moment for the real star to deliver the iconic line.

The herculean feats of Phelps, Bolt, Kenny, Biles et al were by no means directly caused by Beijing, London, Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo, but they are better remembered for the spectacular backdrop that augmented their exploits.  

Just as every Games needs its heroes, it is also paramount to set the tone in an elaborate manner. In this sense, Paris has nothing to fear. 

It will be the first Olympics to see the opening ceremony - the key mission statement of a successful Games - take place not in a stadium, but out in the city itself, binding the very fibre of Paris to the games. 

An elaborate, 6km journey down the winding river Seine from the Pont d'Austerlitz to Pont d'Aena with the banks lined with thousands of Parisians welcoming the world to their city is planned, with the Eiffel Tower of course glittering away in the background. 

The 2024 games will see equal numbers of both female and male athletes for the first time, when 10,500 sportspeople arrive in Paris next summer. A further 4,400 Paralympians will arrive at the end of August - just three short of the record made at Tokyo three years ago. 

A new event will also be making a debut appearance next summer, with 'breaking' - or more commonly known as break dancing - taking its place on the Olympic roster for the first time ever, as Paris puts forth its strong urban art scene.  

And the firsts continue off the field. Paris 2024 has partnered with an official hospitality provider - On Location - for the first time, with the intention of delivering more than just a ticket to the Games, but the ability to purchase packages for the sporting event.