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Paris Olympics: Six sports to learn about before the games

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — During every summer Olympics, people worldwide have the opportunity to learn about sports they rarely watch.

The Paris 2024 program features 32 sports and many have complex rules that are new to millions. The Olympics always provide a chance for these lesser-known competitions to take center stage.


NBC4 will provide previews on every sport in this year’s Paris Olympics, which get underway in a little less than two weeks. Here are six to learn about to get started.

Archery

Archery has become a mainstay during the first week of the Olympic games since 1972.

For each of the five events, archers and teams are seeded into a bracket after shooting 72 arrows during a ranking round. In the individual events, 64 archers compete while 12-16 countries compete in the three team events.

Each knockout match has up to five sets of three arrows for each archer, with a maximum score of 30 points (three bullseyes). The winner of the set earns two set points and if a set is tied, each archer or team gets one set point. The first to six set points wins the match.

Photo taken on June 4, 2024 shows the construction site in front of the Invalides for the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, France. The Esplanade des Invalides will be the stage for the archery and para archery events. (Photo by Gao Jing/Xinhua via Getty Images)
South Korea’s South Korea’s Kim Je-deok competes in the men’s team gold medal match against Taiwan during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo on July 26, 2021. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP) (Photo by ADEK BERRY/AFP via Getty Images)
TOKYO, JAPAN – JULY 25: South Korea women’s archery team compete during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo on July 25, 2021. (Photo by Alexander Safonov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Cycling

Cycling stands in the Olympic program as one of the nine original sports featured at the first modern Olympics held in Athens in 1896.

Among Olympic sports that have various styles, cycling offers the most unique discipline in the games. Road cycling is similar to the Tour de France with riders competing in a road race and a time trial in the streets of France.

Track cycling has the most events with 12 as riders reach incredibly high speeds around a banked indoor track. BMX (Bike motocross) is the action discipline for cycling with a freestyle event where riders perform tricks and a racing event. Mountain biking has a course consisting of rocky terrains and dirt trails.

MONTIGNY LE BRETONNEUX, FRANCE – NOVEMBER 04: A general view of the exterior of the Velodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines prior to the 2023 UCI Track Champions League on November 04, 2023 in Montigny le Bretonneux, France. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Cyclists compete during the cycling track women’s omnium points race at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Izu, Japan, Aug. 8, 2021. (Photo by Zhang Hongxiang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
TOKYO, JAPAN – JULY 28: Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands competing on Men’s Individual Time Trial during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Fuji International Speedway on July 28, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan (Photo by Ronald Hoogendoorn/BSR Agency/Getty Images)
Great Britain’s Declan Brooks during the Men’s Cycling BMX Freestyle Final at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the ninth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. Picture date: Sunday August 1, 2021. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
Switzerland’s Sina Frei (R) and Switzerland’s Linda Indergand compete in the cycling mountain bike women’s cross-country event during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Izu MTB Course in Izu on July 27, 2021. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP) (Photo by GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)

Equestrian

Equestrian is one of the oldest sports in the games and the only one where animals are part of the competition. The Palace of Versailles will serve as a fitting host for the events with the sport’s ties to European royalty.

The three events include dressage, jumping, and eventing. Dressage, also known by some as “horse ballet,” is the form where the horse performs skilled movements (such as galloping) and is scored by judges. Jumping has the horse and rider go through an obstacle course with various jumps while eventing combines dressage and jumping with a cross-country endurance course.

This photograph shows the temporary infrastructure under construction at the Parc du Chateau de Versailles, in Versailles on May 6, 2024, which will accommodate up to 16,300 attendees for the equestrian events during the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP) (Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images)
TOKYO, JAPAN – AUGUST 30: Rihards Snikus of Team Latvia and their horse King of the Dance compete during the Equestrian Dressage Individual Freestyle Test – Grade I on day 5 of the Tokyo Paralympic Games at Equestrian Park on August 30, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Koki Nagahama/Getty Images)
Tokyo , Japan – 4 August 2021; Malin Baryard-Johnsson of Sweden riding Indiana during the jumping individual final at the Equestrian Park during the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo By Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Modern Pentathlon

The modern pentathlon combines five different sports and was created for the Olympics specifically. It was created by the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, to combine skills needed by a soldier.

Those skills are sword fighting (fencing), horse riding (equestrian), swimming, shooting, and running. Athletes on the first day will go through two rounds of fencing, ride a horse through a jumping course, and swim a 200-meter freestyle race.

Points based on those events determine time handicaps for the final event: Four rounds of laser shooting followed by an 800-meter run after each round of shooting. The winner of the laser-run race takes home gold.

CHOFU, JAPAN – AUGUST 07: Aleix Heredia of Team Spain (R) and Valentin Belaud of Team France compete in the fencing bonus round of the Men’s Modern Pentathlon on day fifteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo Stadium on August 07, 2021 in Chofu, Japan. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
CHOFU, JAPAN – AUGUST 06: Ieda Guimaraes of Team Brazil and other competitors dive at the start of the 200 metre freestyle swimming heat of the Women’s Modern Pentathlon on day fourteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo Stadium on August 06, 2021 in Chofu, Japan. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
CHOFU, JAPAN – AUGUST 06: Uliana Batashova of Team ROC competes in the Riding Show Jumping during the Women’s Modern Pentathlon on day fourteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo Stadium on August 06, 2021 in Chofu, Japan. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Britain’s Joseph Choong competes in the men’s individual laser run of the modern pentathlon during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Tokyo Stadium in Tokyo on August 7, 2021. (Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP) (Photo by PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images)

Triathlon

The best triathletes in the world will be in the Olympics for a seventh consecutive games. Each individual triathlon begins with a nearly one-mile swim in open water followed by a 25-mile bike ride. Athletes will then conclude with a 6.2-mile run.

For the second time, the Olympics will have a mixed triathlon relay with four athletes. Each triathlete does a 330-yard swim, a five-mile bike ride, and runs 1.2 miles with the required order of woman, man, woman, man.

PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 18: Athletes dive from the starting line in front of Pont Alexandre III during the Men World Triathlon Championship Series on August 18, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images)
Bermuda’s Flora Duffy celebrates winning the women’s individual triathlon competition during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo on July 27, 2021. (Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP) / The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [correcting date July 27] instead of [July 26]. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
TOKYO, JAPAN – JULY 31: Jessica Learmonth of Team Great Britain cycles during the Mixed Relay Triathlon on day eight of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Odaiba Marine Park on July 31, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Weightlifting

Another original Olympic sport is weightlifting. More than 120 weightlifters will compete in Paris in the ten weight classes, a reduction from 14 weight classes in Tokyo.

Athletes get three lifts each in the snatch and the clean and jerk. The snatch requires the lifter to get the barbell above their head in one motion and hold for a few seconds. The clean and jerk has the athlete lift the barbell to their shoulders and then jerk above their head. The athletes that lift the highest combined weight take gold.

Tokyo , Japan – 26 July 2021; Hidilyn Diaz of Philippines celebrates winning Gold after setting a new Olympic record of lifting 127kg in the clean and jerk during the women’s 55kg group A weightlifting final at the Tokyo Internarional Forum during the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
TOKYO, JAPAN – AUGUST 04: David Andrew Liti of Team New Zealand lifts during the Weightlifting – Men’s +109kg Group A on day twelve of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo International Forum on August 04, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO – JULY 27: Maude Charron, of Canada, on her final lift and realizes she wins Gold in Women’s Weightlifting preliminary round at Tokyo International Forum. (Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

NBC4 Paris Olympics Previews