The difference between the "off again, on again" build up to the Tokyo Olympics in Australia just three years ago and this year's event in Paris has been amazing to behold. It's largely because the world is a much darker place in 2024 than when we were emerging from the shadow of COVID-19.
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Wars in Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere and the remarkable events that have dominated the American presidential election have all drawn attention away from the Olympic celebration of human ability, courage and endurance.
That is unfortunate given the almost 11,000 athletes, who will be competing in 32 different sports, have pushed themselves to the limit for years in preparation for this moment.
In 2021 people were talking about little else. Olympic fever was gripping the world. The games, which had been pushed back a year, were a welcome diversion from the COVID-19 crisis.
The Australian contingent, some of whose members feared they might have lost their opportunity to compete, did the nation proud. While not able to match the 58 medals from the Sydney games they brought home an impressive amount of gold, silver and bronze.
The tally of 17 gold medals matched the 2004 Athens result. Competitors also won seven silver and 22 bronze medals as well.
Emma McKeon, our most successful medallist, accounted for three gold and four bronze in the pool. She was closely followed by Kaylee McKeown with three gold and one bronze. Nine other swimmers accounted for 13 gold medals between them. Members of the rowing, canoeing, cycling and sailing teams also bought home the gold thanks to very strong individual performances.
It is important to revisit the achievements of our athletes in the Tokyo games because there is every reason to hope this year's Paris contingent, many of whom went to Japan, will show the rest of the world - and their Australian supporters - what they are capable of.
The first Australian Olympians, the members of our men's Rugby 7s side, to go into action take on Samoa on Thursday night at 11.30pm AEST.
The Australian team, which finished seventh overall at Tokyo in 2021, will be looking to improve on that performance. So too will the female Rugby 7s team who finished fifth overall in Tokyo and came close to being in the contention for a bronze medal.
While only the Rugby tragics and Olympic die-hards are likely to sit up into the wee small hours of Friday morning to watch the game, the temperature is expected to rise considerably over the weekend with the official opening ceremony to go to air from 4.24am on Saturday (AEST).
For the first time in the history of the modern Olympics the ceremony is not going to be held in the main stadium. The French organisers have opted for a spectacular water-borne parade on the Seine River. Each national delegation will have its own boat and the parade will make its way along a six kilometre route through Paris from the Austerlitz Bridge.
The ceremony's "grand finale" is to be held at the Trocadero Gardens across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower.
While the exact details of the ceremony are a closely guarded secret there is no doubt the French will be pulling out all the stops to deliver a jaw-dropping feast of imagery, music and spectacle.
And, of course, the event will be bookended by the Paralympics - which will host 4,400 athletes - from August 29.
Let's get behind our Olympians and Paralympians by seizing the moment and going "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi". It's time to celebrate the positive.
