All Roads to Paris – Olympic 2024

Islamabad (Bilal Javaid):- The Paris Summer Olympics has inaugurated on Friday 26th, July 2024, with a new sportsman’s spirit to unite the world under the Olympic new motto in Latin, Citius, Altius, Fortius – Communiter, which means in English Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together. The Olympic Games event globally symbolizes unity and exuberance of the human spirit and develops peace, love, correlation, and interfaith harmony among the nations.

The French historian Pierre de Coubertin started the modern Olympics in 1894. The first edition took place in Athens in 1896. In the first Olympic Games, 241 athletes competed from 14 countries, and at the Paris Olympics 2024, France, the number of players reached an estimated 10,500 from 206 nations.

These Olympic Games will be the first in history to achieve the exceptional goal of full gender parity, with equal strength of male and female athletes and 5,250 men and 5,250 women competing in parallel.

The Pakistani contingent of athletes will also participate with new zeal and zests, and first Pakistani star javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem and the three best shooters, Ghulam Mustafa Bashir, Gulfam Joseph, and Kishmala Talat, qualified for their respective events after reaching the qualifications marks. The courageous athletes Faiqa Riaz, Muhammad Ahmed Durrani, and Jehanara Nabi take wild card opportunities to prove their talent on the Olympic tracks.

Arshad Nadeem is the first Pakistani javelin thrower to qualify for the final of any track and field event in the Olympic Games. He won a gold medal for Pakistan at the 2022 Commonwealth Games despite he was injured. Nadeem has created a new national and Commonwealth games record with a throw of 90.18m and became the first-ever athlete from South Asia to breach the 90m mark. In 2023, he became the first ever Pakistani athlete to win a medal at the World Athletics Championship by winning a silver medal.

Before the Olympics heats, Alhamra Arts Council Lahore and Alliance Française arranged a photographic exhibition to pay tribute to the athletes from around the globe and to follow up the Paris Olympics 2024 Celebrations in the foyer of Hall 2 at Alhamra Arts Center, the Mall Lahore, Pakistan.

The French Ambassador to Pakistan, H. E. Nicolas Galey, inaugurated the photography exhibition and spread light on the Paris Olympics Games 2024 programs and its global impact on bilateral relations, unity, and harmony among the nations. The exhibition featured striking photographs showcasing athletes competing in various sports worldwide. This visual homage highlights the spirit of fair play and the unity and bilateral relations among the nations fostered by the Olympic Games. The exhibition offers visitors an inspiring glimpse of sports person spirits and into the world of Olympic athletes and their remarkable achievements.

The Executive Director, Alhamra Sarah Rashid, was also present and shared her enthusiasm, stating that we are delighted that Pakistani rising athletes are also in the Olympics from 26th July to 11th August.

She added that this marks the 19th participation of our country in the Summer Olympics. The exhibition at Alhamra underscores our significant role in enhancing soft image worldwide. In return, the French diplomats expressed gratitude to the Alhamra body for organizing such an exhibition and remarked that hosting an exhibition on the Olympic paradigm at Alhamra is a commendable initiative. Alhmara’s Executive Director Sara Rasheed also conveyed best wishes to the athletes for success in the Paris Olympic Games.

The Paris Games start with a non-medal event on 24th July 2024. The Olympic Games features 329 medal events played in 16 days from 27th July to 11th August, with worldwide 10,500 athletes competing, including participants from Pakistan.

The Pakistan ambassador in Paris H. E. Asim Iftekhar warmly welcomed all the Pakistani rising stars and hosted the Pakistani athletes and officials of the Pakistan Olympic Associations at the Pakistani Embassy in Paris, who will raise the national flag high on the arena of the Paris Olympic 2024, France.

Photos Credit: Imran Y. Choudhry, Bilal Javaid, Adnan Yousaf