The Parc des Champions, located during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Trocadéro, was a great success, both for the medal-winning athletes, who were able to enjoy the support of the public, and for the public, who were able to meet athletes from all over the world and experience some exceptional moments. This first-ever event also saw old medals, often due to doping, awarded to athletes who should have won them many years ago, right up to the Sydney Olympics in 2000!
These were truly emotional moments for the athletes who had waited years to be awarded the medal they deserved! In this fervent setting, they were honored in a beautiful ceremony, the first to take place during the Olympic Games, supported by the IOC Athletes' Commissions and Paris 2024, celebrated in fitting fashion at the foot of the Eiffel Tower on August 9.
10 athletes were able to experience this moment of joy retrospectively, such as Jamaican Beverly McDonald, for bronze in the women's 200m in Sydney, Chelsea Hammond Ross, also for bronze in the long jump in Beijing, American Lashinda Demus and Czech Zuzana Hejnova, for their 400m hurdles in London or Egyptian Tarek Yehia Fouad Abdelazim in weightlifting in London. Most of these athletes, of Russian nationality, were disqualified for doping. More than 160 Olympic medals have changed hands since 1968.
As the New York Times points out , "these reassignments give the athletes great pleasure, but they are often bittersweet moments. By the time they happen, they may have been out of the sport for years and have rebuilt their lives for good," as their fourth place often had a difficult effect on their careers.
