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Explained: Why is the track at Paris Olympics 2024 purple colored?
Paris Olympics 2024 organizers have gone ahead with the idea of colouring the athletes track purple instead of red-brick clay color for the first time in the history of the games in order to recall the vibrant landscape of France. The event is scheduled to take place from July 26 - August 11, 2024.
Over the years, we have seen some splendid track performances from several runners in various editions of the Olympics. However, this year in Paris, a purple track will be used for the very first time.
Mondo has been providing the track for each edition of the Olympics, including the upcoming one. The company's vice president of sport, Maurizio Stroppiana, was asked about introduction of the purple track, and said:
“The color was a courageous decision of the local organizing committee. We have never done this color before. It’s a light mauve and darker violet. It sort of recalls the landscape of France.”
Alain Blondel, the sports manager overseeing athletics events at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics also spoke about the purple track and said:
"That's one of the colors of the Games that we have [along] with, blue [and] green. The rubber itself is a perfect quality, the best quality. I'm pretty confident that we will have something exceptional in this stadium."
While speaking with Reuters in a separate interview, Blondel emphasized views that though it’s the same track and the base used in the Tokyo Olympics, there were small changes introduced this time around.
"We really liked the purple as it allowed us to move away from the usual colors," said Blondel.
More than 1,000 rolls were used for the track, hammering a nail in to keep it in position, and 2,800 pots of glue in total.
Three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, three world records and 12 Olympic records were shattered on the iconic red-brick track. We can expect more records to fall at the Stade de France during the Paris Olympics this time around.
The new track at Paris Olympics 2024 will enhance athletes' performance
Mondo, the company that has been providing the track at every Summer Games since Montreal in 1976, has only one goal for this Games - That is to provide the track to minimize energy loss and enhance the performance of the athletes.
After noting down athlete feedback, Mondo had conducted extensive research and explored multiple algorithms. New generation granules that are more elastic and cohesive were produced for the upper layer of rubber for the track to enhance athlete performance. All these innovations will help the athletes to run faster, jump higher, and leap further.
We will see some big names in track and field compete at the Paris Olympics, including Noah Lyles, Sha'Carri Richardson, Andre De Grasse, Gabby Thomas and Shericka Jackson, to name a few.
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