For a whole year, Omega's Countdown Clock has been tracking the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds until the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics. Inspired by the Paris 2024 emblem, the clock is located at Port de la Bourdonnais on the bank of the Seine River. Boats carrying athletes of participating nations will navigate the Seine for tonight's opening ceremony, which for the first time in the history of the Summer Olympic Games will take place outside a stadium.
Starting at Pont d'Austerlitz, the aquatic spectacle will follow a downstream course, passing landmarks such as Notre-Dame de Paris, Louvre Museum and Place de la Concorde. At Pont d'Iéna, the parade will progress to the Trocadéro for the finale of the novel opening ceremony. Iconic sights have been imagined as sporting playgrounds in Omega's global campaign, which celebrates the beauty of La Ville Lumière and abilities of Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
French Olympians include Céline Boutier, who tees off from a gargoyle atop the Notre-Dame cathedral; Mickaël Mawem, who climbs the Pont des Arts; and Léon Marchand, whose swim in the Seine ends triumphantly at Pont Alexandre III. Sapsiree Taerattanachai. Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi and Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis fantastically clear the Arc de Triomphe and Sacré-Cœur Basilica.
Swiss wheelchair racer Marcel Hug and Italian wheelchair fencer Bebe Vio also appear in the surrealistic video, which conveys how the athletes were "born to be a legend", amplified by the soundtrack. Omega has also launched a local campaign featuring Paralympic legends Prawat Wahoram, Saysunee Jana and Hanreuchai Netsiri along with six Thai Olympic athletes. Prawat first competed in wheelchair racing at Sydney 2000 and Saysunee has shown her fencing skills since Athens 2004.
They now have gold, silver and bronze medals under their belt while Hanreuchai's prowess in archery earned him a silver medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Taekwando champion Panipak Wongpattanakit took home a bronze and gold medal at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. Newcomer Thongphaphum Vongsukdee will shoot in the men's 50m rifle three positions competition while Joseph Jonathan Weston will debut along with kiteboarding at Paris 2024.
Panipak Wongpattanakit. Omega particularly recognises the talents of Thailand's badminton team, as mixed doubles stars Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai and men's singles world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn front the national campaign. Portraits of the nine Thai athletes were shot by New York-based Mikey Asanin, who normally specialises in fashion and beauty photography.
They all sport the Seamaster Diver 300M Paris 2024 Special Edition powered by a Co-Axial Master Chronometer 8800. The commemorative timepiece and its self-winding movement have been certified by the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology. The 42mm stainless steel case is paired with a bezel in Moonshine Gold, which represents the medal coveted by every athlete.
France's capital previously hosted the modern Olympic Games in 1900 and 1924, and it took a century for this comeback in 2024. Omega has been timing the world's foremost multi-sports competition since 1932. The legacy started with a lone watchmaker and 30 chronographs at the Xth Olympiad in Los Angeles.
Hanreuchai Netsiri. The Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games expanded this role by timing the Albertville 1992 Paralympic Winter Games. The Swiss brand is back in France for Paris 2024.
This marks the 31st occasion of being the Official Timekeeper to record 329 Olympic events across 32 sports. Omega's state-of-the-art equipment includes electronic starting pistols, starting blocks, photocell technology, the Scan 'O' Vision Ultimate photofinish camera and hi-resolution scoreboards. After the closing of the Summer Olympics on Aug 11, they will be used for the Paralympics Games, which will run from Aug 28 to Sept 8.
Prawat Wahoram. Dechapol Puavaranukroh. Thongphaphum Vongsukdee.
Joseph Jonathan Weston. Kunlavut Vitidsarn..
