2024 Summer Olympic Games Official Poster
It’s Time for an Inspirational Overload . . . Let the 2024 Olympic Games Begin!
The 33rd Summer Olympics is here, kicking off on July 26, 2024, in Paris, filled with inspirational stories and Olympic firsts. Even if you have never dreamed of becoming an Olympic athlete, this year’s competitors’ stories of how they achieved their goal of being in Paris 2024 and how they performed will be inspirational and motivating no matter what your age.
Begin your watch parties on Friday, July 26, at 12 p.m. ET on NBC with live coverage of the three-hour opening ceremony at 1:30 p.m. ET and 7:30 p.m. later that day. The complete schedule is on the official Olympic site, as well as on NBC.
Mary Hanna riding Calanta. Tokyo 2020. Photo: Australian Equestrian Team, Libby Law.
Oldest Athletes
Four years ago, Healthy Aging® reported on the oldest athlete to compete in the 2020 Summer Games to be Mary Hanna.
She’s back at 69 (turning 70 in December) for her 7th Olympics, although this time as an alternate. Hanna got her start in Olympic competition in 1996, Atlanta. She is 58 years older than the youngest competitor, Chinese skateboarder Zheng Haohao, who is 11 years old.
Other older equestrians include Jill Irving, 61, and Mario Deslauriers, 59. Deslauriers competed in 1984 and 1988. Proving it is possible to never give up on a dream, Deslauriers returned to the Games 33 years later in Tokyo (the 2020 Games were run in 2021 due to COVID). Many horses competing in the Games are in the 10 -14 year old range.
(Clockwise from top left) Andy Macdonald, 2015. X Games, Austin. Photo: Ralph Arvesen from Round Mountain, Texas. Wikicommons; (right and below) Andy Macdonald at Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest, July 2024, photos courtesy of Skateboard GB.
A 50-Year-Old Skateboarder
Andy Macdonald, 50, will compete in skateboarding for Great Britain. Macdonald, a father of three, was born in Melrose, Mass., and currently lives in San Diego, CA. He was born two years before California’s first skateboard park opened in Carlsbad and found his passion at age 12. His father is British, thus providing the opportunity to compete on the British team. No newcomer to the sport, he holds the record for the most X Games medals in vert skateboarding and won the World Cup Skateboarding competition eight times.
As part of his work with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Macdonald was invited to the White House in 1999 to give a speech. He was the first skateboarder to ride his board through the halls of the White House.
Proving that age is but a number, Macdonald will compete alongside teammate Sky Brown, a 15-year-old Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist. He will be the oldest Olympic skateboarder in history.
Other older athletes include:
- Meghan Musnicki, Team USA rowing: 41 years old
- Diana Taurasi, Team USA women’s basketball: 42 years old
- Timo Boll, German table tennis: 43 years old
- Malindi Elmore, Canada track and field: 44 years old
- Nino Salukvadze, Georgia shooting: 55 years old
- Carl Hester, Great Britain equestrianism: 57 years old
Ceremony of Firsts
For the first time in the Olympic Summer Games’ history, the opening ceremony will not take place in a stadium. Instead, the organizers opted to place it in the heart of Paris along its main artery, the Seine River. The ceremony is being touted as the largest in the Game’s history.
The parade of athletes for each nation will use boats equipped with cameras, offering an up-close-and-personal view for the television audience. Some 10,500 athletes representing 206 countries will compete in 32 different sports and 339 events over 16 days. The parade of almost 100 boats will wind from east to west through the center of Paris, ending in front of the Trocadero, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower.
Seize the Motto
Seize the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius … (Latin for Faster, Higher, Stronger) and be inspired!
For a full schedule of the Olympic Games 2024, visit the official 2024 Summer Olympics website.
