The International Olympic Committee’s executive board has approved the competition schedule for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and also announced qualifying events for several sports. There will be 32 sports contested across 19 days of competition from July 24, two days before the opening ceremony, to August 11, with 329 medal events and 762 sessions. The first gold medal will be presented on July 27, the day after the opening ceremony, with cycling, judo, fencing, diving, rugby, shooting, swimming, and skateboarding medals all set to be awarded. All swimming and athletic finals will be held in the evening. The first swimming gold medal will be awarded on July 27, and the first athletic gold on August 2. Breaking, the high-profile new sport, will make its Olympic debut on August 9 in Place de la Concord. From August 8 to 11, finals of the women’s and men’s hockey, handball, football, beach volleyball, volleyball, basketball, and water polo will be held, to provide an exciting finale before the closing ceremony on the evening of August 11. Officials also revealed plans for a Paris 2024 qualifier series for BMX freestyle, breaking, skateboarding and sport climbing in three “festival-style events” to boost awareness of the sports. Hong Kong kiteboarder Leung dreams of Asian Games – and Paris Olympics The IOC said the events would take place in “compact city-centre venues” between March and June 2024. “We expect to boost their visibility and highlight the great achievements of the competing athletes on the road to Paris 2024,” Thomas Bach, the IOC president, said in a statement. The three events would serve as a part of the sports’ 2024 Olympics qualification systems, the IOC said. Breaking – known to some outside the sport as breakdancing – cleared its final hurdle to feature in the Paris 2024 Games in December 2020. BMX freestyle, sport climbing and skateboarding made their Olympic debuts in Tokyo last year.