Paris Olympics 2024: Meet Phyrge, Mascot of The 33rd Summer Games And Paralympics

Paris Olympics 2024: The Summer Games return to the 'City of Lights' after 100 odd years. The last time, the French capital hosted the Summer Games was in 1924. The 1924 edition of the Paris Olympics included 17 sports, 126 events and 23 disciplines with just 3,000 athletes participating from 44 countries. This time around 10,500 athletes representing 206 countries will compete in 329 events across 32 sports.  The upcoming Olympics will also witness 117 Indian athletes participating to register their names in history.

Phrygian Cap: The Mascot of Paris Olympics and Paralympics 2024

An updated version of a conical hat, a soft red cap, better known as the liberty cap has been chosen as the mascot of Paris Olympics and Paralympics 2024. The hat is worn in places such as Persia, the Balkans, Thrace, Dacia and Phrygia, a place in modern day Turkey where the name originates. Interestingly the hat was also a symbol of pursuit of liberty in the French Revolution and is still worn by he figure of Marianne, the national personification of France since that time.

The mascot of the Olympics and the Paralympics is in a triangular shape, has blue eyes, tricolor ribbon, wears big colored sneakers and has a beaming smile. Keeping in the mind the theme of the Paralympics, the mascot also has a prosthetic leg that goes to the knee. This is the first time that a mascot has been designed to sport a visible disability.

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The Paralympics version of the mascot has impressed Michael Jeremiasz, gold medalist in wheelchair tennis at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. According to Jeremiasz, the prosthesis sends an inclusive message to disabled people around the world.

Paris Olympics 2024: A Grand Spectacle

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A total of 35 venues have been finalized for the 33rd Summer Games. There are 14 sites / venues located withing 10km of Olympic village which will host 24 sporting events. Few iconic places of Paris have been also picked for the events which includes Champ de Mars (under the Eiffel Tower), urban sports to be held at La Concorde, fencing and taekwondo to be hosted by  Grand Palais and the marathon that starts at the Hotel de Ville.

(With AP Inputs)