The ticket hype began in 2023. Ticket packages were released, meaning if you chose one sport to watch, you had to buy tickets for another. Individual sports tickets were very expensive, and the promised “cheap tickets so everyone can go” were never available.

As a swimmer myself, and with Olympic swimming tickets unaffordable (plus being annoyed at all the Olympics hype), I had set my sight on Paraswimming. In November 2023, I purchased tickets for a finals session at the end of August 2024 in Paris La Défense Arena. I had no idea who’d be swimming, and no guarantee the announced races wouldn’t be modified.

A friend who practices taekwondo got a family package for Olympic taekwondo (Grand Palais) and Olympic water polo (in the newly built Paris Aquatics Centre).

So, yeah, tickets.