The world of sport experienced postcard-perfect Olympic Games in Paris in 2024, but the year was also marked by increasingly common complaints from athletes about the overload of the calendar, with more and more events to keep the ‘game machine’ running. Sport Business’.
The Eiffel Tower, the Champ de Mars, the Grand Palais, Versailles and even the paradisiacal Teahupo’o were the spectacular settings for the feats of the athletes who competed in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Deeds such as the jump to the sky of the pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, the return of the queen of gymnastics Simone Biles, the coronation of Leon Marchand as the new king of swimming, Djokovic’s gold in the only major title that the Serbian was missing, the historic double by the Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel, the consecration of the wrestler Mijaín López as the only athlete to win five consecutive golds in the same event or the race to glory of Marileidy Paulino in the 400 meters.
– Memorable moments –
Beyond the sporting results, there were other images to remember such as the spectacular opening ceremony in the Seine and the relay to Los Angeles led by Tom Cruise, Nadal’s last rackets on his talisman Roland Garros court, the gesture Biles’ humility on the podium when she prostrated herself before Rebeca Andrade, Olympic floor champion, the selfie of the table tennis players from the two Koreas, the levitation of Gabriel Medina after taming a wave perfect, or the ‘serial killer’ posture of the shooter Kim Ye-ji, in contrast to the relaxation of the Turkish Yusuf Dikec.
Without forgetting sad moments such as the tears of Carolina Marín, whose knee said enough shortly after qualifying for the badminton final, or the controversy over the participation of boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting, victims of attacks based on their gender.
In short, a dream fortnight that continued shortly after with the Paralympics in perfect symbiosis, as demonstrated by the Americans Tara Davis-Woodwall and her husband Hunter. She was the long jump champion and, weeks later, he, amputated in both legs, won the 200 and 400m titles.
The Brazilian swimmer Gabrielzinho, the American Matt Sutzman, called ‘the archer without arms’, and the versatile Oksana Masters, capable of winning medals in different disciplines, both in the summer and winter Games, also entered the Olympus thanks to their example. of improvement.
– Calendar disputes –
Beyond the Games, the great debate of 2024 was the overload of sports calendars in most sports, with new competitions or expansions of existing ones: more races in the Formula 1 and MotoGP world championships, tennis tournaments in December to November, cycling races on all continents, new athletics or golf circuits to compete with the traditional ones, etc.
Without a doubt, the sport that has given us the most talk is football, which is the one that moves the most money and the one that arouses the most passions throughout the world. The overload is more evident in European football. The Nations League that UEFA created in 2018, the 48-team World Cup starting in 2026 and the major championships with 20 teams (such as England, Spain or Italy), were joined in 2024 by the reform of the Champions League, the main club tournament and the most lucrative, with more teams (it has gone from 32 to 36) and, therefore, more games (144 instead of 96).
And if that were not enough, FIFA confirmed dates and venues for the new Club World Cup, which will be held in the United States in June and July 2025, with 32 teams from all confederations and a total of 63 more matches.
Big-name footballers have also expressed frustration over an increasingly long schedule that leaves them fewer opportunities to rest and recover, with Ballon d’Or winner Rodri declaring in September that players are close to striking if everything remains the same.
The complaints do not only come from the stars of the ball: “It’s total madness,” German Alexander Zverev described the tennis season in November. “I haven’t been able to spend more than three days in a row at home this year,” he added.
The interests of the sports industry collide with those of the main protagonists, the athletes, and the situation could end up exploding if no one remedies it.
mcd/dr/iga