Why the Olympic Track Was Painted Purple for Paris 2024

 

The athletics track at the 2024 Paris Olympics has been painted purple in a truly bold move, and fans are curious to find out why.

The first Olympic events will take place in the French capital on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, before the official opening ceremony on Friday.

Some of the upcoming sporting events will be held on a rare purple running track, a color never used before, according to the Olympic website.

It was a “long process” for Paris 2024 organizers to set it up. But why did they decide to paint the track purple?

Why will the Olympic athletics track for the 2024 Paris Games be purple?

Alain Blondel, sports director in charge of athletics for Paris 2024, explained two main reasons why such an unusual decision was made.

The first is that the organizers of Paris 2024 strongly wanted something “out of the box”, that could get people talking and generate interest, given the huge number of tickets still unsold.

“The most challenging part of the job was to create a track that was different from what we had seen so far,” Blondel said.

‘[In order] to maintain the creative approach that the Organizing Committee has had since its foundation, to think outside the box a little.’

The second reason is that the color is said to ‘highlight’ the athletes who will be competing on the track.

Blondel also explained that the curves at the end of the bend are grey in homage to the ash-coloured tracks of the 1924 Paris Games.

“The look of the Games includes three colours for all the competition venues: blue, green and purple,” he added.

“We chose this purple track with different shades: lighter for the track, darker for the service areas and grey for the curves at the end of the curve, to recall the ash-coloured tracks that were there 100 years ago for the 1924 Paris Olympics.

“We had to work a lot on the colors, so that they came out in the best possible shades to highlight the athletes.

“It’s a track, it has to be beautiful, but above all it’s a stage on which the athletes will perform. What’s really important is that the colors and the athletes stand out.”[metro.co.uk]

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