The anticipation for the Paris Olympic Games is finally over as the hundreds of athletes for Greece and Australia are now preparing to showcase their quality on the international stage.
The Summer Olympic Games officially returns to Paris for the first time in 100 years, with the French capital to play host to over 10,000 athletes competing from over 206 nations in 32 different sports.
The Games will run from 26 July to 11 August, though certain events such as the football commenced even earlier as an early taste of the abundance of sport we will witness in the coming weeks.
Greece is set to boast a team of 100 competitors at this year’s Olympics participating in 16 events.
The team is headlined by athletes like NBA star Giannis Antentokounpo and race walker Antigoni Ntrismpioti (both of whom were chosen as flag bearers for the opening ceremony), along with tennis stars Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari.
Australia’s Olympics team boasts 460 athletes across 33 sports, 231 of whom are making their Olympic debut, with slalom canoeist Jess Fox and hockey player Eddie Ockenden chosen as Australia’s flag-bearers for the opening ceremony.
A highlight for the two nations will come in the men’s basketball event as both are in the same Group (along with Canada and Spain).
They will collide on 2 August in their final Group play games, and that could very well prove to be a deciding factor on whether one or both countries advance to the quarter-finals.
A key development with these Games is the introduction of six different languages of commentary on the Stan Sport streaming service, among which will be Greek.
France is notably eight hours behind Australian Eastern Standard Time, meaning when it is 9am in Paris it would be 5pm in Melbourne.
The Paris Games will also feature the Olympic debut of breakdancing.
The closing ceremony will take place at the Stade de France after the women’s marathon, in the morning (AEST) of 12 August.
