Paris 2024 Summer Olympics - Exactly one year away!

For most people, when the Olympics are a year away, they think "I look forward to watching the Olympics next year", but for me, when the Games are a year away, my stress level goes up a little. This means that I have a short window of time to complete the rest of my planning. 

Just to give you context, the process started more than a year ago, with me applying for my credentials. I got my confirmation from Team USA back in February that my request was approved, with the level of credentials I requested. Now the real work begins.

I got an email reminding me of the one year countdown, and it reminded me to log into the Paris 2024 Extranet site to check on everything. The one thing I need to lock down right away is my housing. As always, I will be photographing many different sports while at the Olympics, but my primary team will be USA Water Polo (Men and Women).  As it turns out, like in some of the previous Summer Games, the competition will change to a different venue and location once the teams reach the medal rounds. This means that I will have two primary locations to account for.

The preliminary rounds for water polo will be held in Seine-Saint-Denis, outside the center of Paris.

The medal rounds for water polo will be held in La Defense. 

This means that I need to select a press hotel (subsidized rates) that is located where I can easily get to both sites. Google Maps shows that the two locations are approximately 20 miles from each other with a 30 min drive time. But this travel time could vary depending on whether I am using a press bus or the metro. 

I have already reached out to the Accommodations team in Paris to determine my options.

The next thing I will work on, after I have figured out the housing, is my contract with the team. But since we have worked together for many years, I am not too stressed about that. And once I can book flights (since the airlines don't book out one year in advance), I will get that locked in.

I am very excited for Paris Olympics for many reasons. The first and foremost is that it will be the first Olympic Games in a long time where we hopefully do not need to worry about Covid. For those of you who have followed me through the past couple of Olympics, you remember the massive challenges I faced going (and not going) into those. The second reason I am excited about these Olympic Games is that they are located in Paris! If it is anything like the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the locations and backdrops could be amazing.  

Rendering from the Paris Olympic Website

And for the first time ever I hope to be photographing the opening ceremony outside of a stadium! If you have not heard, the Paris Organizing Committee (POCOG) is going to have the opening ceremony on the Seine River, with each team floating down the river with their teammates. This is the first time ever that an opening ceremony will be held outside of a stadium. This should be very cool (although potentially a logistical nightmare for those of us who need to get back to the press center right away to post images right away). 

As we get closer to the Games, I will keep you all up to date on the plans, the challenges and the successes.

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