'One of last chances' to get Paris Olympics tickets as 400,000 go on sale

By AFP November 23, 2023 | 04:00 pm PT

The Olympic rings installed on the Esplanade du Trocadero near the Eiffel tower following the Paris nomination as host for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Photo by AFP

More than 400,000 Paris Olympics tickets will go on sale at the end of November in what organizers said on Wednesday would be one of the last chances to buy them.

The sale of the tickets, some of which were kept back for commercial reasons and some of which have become available due to the configuration of sites, will begin at 0900 GMT on Nov. 30 on the paris2024.org website and can be bought from anywhere in the world.

"This is without doubt one of the last opportunities to buy tickets for the Olympics. These tickets are becoming rarer and rarer," organizers said.

They will encompass the entire range of sports and sessions, including for sports that organizers have previously said are sold out, such as swimming.

Nearly 6,000 tickets will be for the swimming, 30,000 will be for athletics, 24,000 for the tennis, 14,000 for the equestrian events and 25,000 for the beach volleyball, which will have a spectacular setting at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

Organizers said nearly 70,000 of these newly released tickets would cost 24 euros ($26), the lowest price category of any of the tickets sold for the Games, which run from July 26 to Aug. 11.

The tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

Much lower numbers of tickets will be released in the next few months and it will also be possible to purchase tickets on the re-selling site that will open next year.

Around 7.2 million tickets have already been sold for the Paris Games but some of the prices of tickets currently available have drawn criticism in France.

For example, the tickets currently available for the athletics at the Stade de France are priced at between 295 euros (for people with handicaps and their companions) and 980 euros.