SMU students visit Paris ahead of 2024 Olympics

The Olympic Rings being placed in front of the Eiffel Tower in celebration of the French capital won the hosting right for the 2024 summer Olympic Games.

A group from Southern Methodist University took a trip to France ahead of the Paris Olympics. Their hope was to get an up close and personal look at the preparations for the Games.

Dr. Sarah Brown, an SMU professor in the Applied Physiology and Sport Management Department of Simmons School of Education and Human Development, is in Aix en Provence, France. The sports marketing students are part of a study abroad program. She and her students have taken short train trips to Olympic venues across the area. Some of what they have been learning is the difference between sports structures in France in comparison to those in the United States.

The students saw the Olympic Rings get hoisted up on the Eifel Tower, they went to Marseille and visited Olympique de Marseille (OM) stadium. OM competes in Ligue 1 of French soccer. That is also the location of where Olympic soccer will be played. They also visited CREPS which is a training site for French top athletes starting from children to college students. That is also where French Olympians are training as well. They also took a boat tour in Marseille where they saw the Olympic sailing site.

Quite possibly their greatest excitement came when the students who were able to see a portion of the Olympic torch relay in Avignon as the flame gets closer to Paris.

Some of the students and their families will also be staying to see some of the events.

The Paris Olympics officially begin on Friday, July 26 with the Opening Ceremony and NBC 5 is following our North Texas Hometown Hopefuls through it all.