Qatar is set to participate in the Games with a delegation of 14 athletes, marking its 11th consecutive appearance in the global sporting event.

The countdown to the 2024 Paris Olympics has begun, with 10,500 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) preparing to compete for both personal achievements and national pride.

An ambitious Olympic tournament, Paris 2024, will be the first Olympic Games Opening Ceremony held outside a stadium.

Instead of the usual spectacle of athletes parading on an athletics track, spectators and viewers will witness 100 boats carrying an estimated 10,500 athletes float along the Seine River during the parade.

The Seine, Paris’s primary waterway, will wind under historic bridges and past iconic landmarks such as Notre Dame and the Louvre, alongside Games venues like the historic Esplanade des Invalides and the Grand Palais.

The outdoor setting makes Paris 2024 the largest Opening Ceremony in terms of audience and geographical coverage.

Qatar’s 11th appearance

Qatar is set to have 14 male and female athletes compete in the 33rd edition of the Olympics.

Qatari high jumper Mutaz Barshim, a local beacon of inspiration, will lead the team as he marks his fourth Olympics appearance.

As a seasoned Olympian, Barshim won Olympic gold and two silver medals in 2016 and 2012, among several international achievements.

The 33-year-old star, alongside Shahad Mohamed, the only female Qatari athlete, will carry the Qatar flag at the opening ceremony.

Track and field athletes Abderrahman Samba, Abubaker Haydar, Bassem Humeida, Ismail Dawood, and Ammar Ismail will join Barshim and Mohamed.

Qatar’s Saif Mohammed and Shahad Mohammed will also compete at the Games, with Saeed Abu Sharab and Rashid Saleh Al Adhuba competing in the Olympic shooting tournament.

Qatar’s weightlifter Fares Ibrahim will return to the Olympic tournament after competing in the 2016 and 2020 games.

In the 2016 Summer Olympics, Ibrahim placed eighth in the men’s 85 kg before being updated to seventh after original bronze medalist Gabriel Sincraian failed a drug test.

In 2020, Ibrahim made history after winning the country’s first Olympic gold medal in weightlifting.

The 26-year-old put up 177kg in the snatch before sliding into the clean and jerk, setting an Olympic record in that lift with a weight of 225kg.

Qatar’s Sherif Younis and Ahmed Tejan will mark their third consecutive Olympic appearance this summer.

The duo stars, who ranked 15th in the FIVA classification for the Paris Olympics, will look to win another medal after achieving bronze in the Tokyo Games.

Abdulaziz Al Obaidly will represent Qatar in swimming.

The Parisian event will see competition in 32 sports in 329 events at 35 venues with the presence of 20,000 media representatives and 45,000 volunteers.

There will be a total of 754 events and 350,000 hours of television coverage.

The Olympics will end on August 11, 2024.