2024 Paris Olympics begin with Opening Ceremony on Seine River

PARIS – A day away from the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, which will take place along the Seine River on Friday evening, a total of 25 Razorbacks representing nine countries are set to experience the global event.

A list of Arkansas athletes competing in the XXXIII Olympiad, along with schedules and results links, can be found here: Razorbacks Paris Olympics.

For the first time in the history of the Olympic Summer Games, the Opening Ceremony will not take place in a stadium. Paris 2024 is breaking new ground by bringing sports into the city and the same will be true of the Opening Ceremony, set to be held in the heart of the city along its main artery: the Seine.

The parade of athletes will be held on the Seine with boats for each national delegation. These boats will be equipped with cameras to allow television and online viewers to see the athletes up close. Winding their way from east to west, the 10,500 athletes will cross through the center of Paris.

The parade will come to the end of its 6-kilometer route in front of the Trocadéro, where the remaining elements of Olympic protocol and final shows will take place.

The live NBC broadcast starts with a pre-show at 11 a.m. CT, and the ceremony itself begins at 7:30 p.m. Paris time, or 12:30 p.m. CT. A prime-time encore telecast, which features additional content, will air later in the day for U.S. viewers, at 6:30 p.m. CT.

The ceremony, expected to be over four hours, will be broadcast on TV and streamed in digital format on NBC and Peacock.

Of the 25 Razorback Olympians, 20 compete in track and field starting on August 2. Arkansas has the highest number of entrants in track and field among NCAA schools. Following the Razorbacks leading tally are Georgia (17), Florida (15), LSU (14), Texas Tech (11), Texas (10), Tennessee (10), Texas A&M (10), USC (10), and Stanford (10).

In addition, the Razorbacks are represented in golf by three alums. Nico Echavarria plays for Colombia in men’s golf, which starts on August 1, while Maria Fassi and Gabby Lopez return with Mexico in women’s golf, which starts on August 7.

Anna Hopkin of Great Britain has qualified in swimming once again for the 50m and 100m freestyle and will likely play a role in a couple of British relay teams. Swimming begins the day after the Opening Ceremony with the women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay prelims and final on July 27.

Incoming Razorback Joscelyn Roberson is a traveling alternate for Team USA in gymnastics.

The Arkansas track and field contingent on Team USA includes Chris Bailey, Taliyah Brooks, Kaylyn Brown, Rachel Glenn, Nikki Hiltz, Jarrion Lawson, and Isabella Whittaker. Competing for Team Jamaica are Romaine Beckford, Janeek Brown, Jaydon Hibbert, Carey McLeod, Ackera Nugent, Wayne Pinnock, Nickisha Pryce, and Rojé Stona.

In addition, the Razorback crew includes Amber Anning (Great Britain), Sanu Jallow (The Gambia), Shafiqua Maloney (St. Vincent & the Grenadines), Ayden Owens-Delerme (Puerto Rico), and Tina Śutej (Slovenia).

Team USA also includes six athletes who train in Fayetteville. They are Brittany Brown, Anna Cockrell, Ryan Crouser, Tara Davis-Woodhall, Alexis Holmes and Shamier Little. The pro group also includes the following Olympians – Andrenette Knight (Jamaica), Jah-Nhai Perinchief (Bermuda), Cindy Sember (Great Britain), and Gianna Woodruff (Panama).

In total, the SEC will be represented by 317 athletes, coaches and other officials with ties to the current conference configuration. All 16 member schools will be represented at the Games by 287 current and former student-athletes.

Breaking the SEC numbers down by sport there are 139 athletes in track and field, 82 in swimming and diving, as well as 20 in basketball. Overall, 13 sports will have athletes from SEC institutions with 78 countries represented. The leading countries include 85 with the United States, 23 with Jamaica, and 21 with Canada.