President Kagame and Mrs. Janet are visiting France

President Kagame and Mrs. Janet are visiting France

President Kagame and Ms. Janet have arrived in Paris where they will attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games which will be held on Friday, July 26, 2024 in Paris.

When the head of state arrived in the country, some of the events he attended included a conference aimed at sustainable development in sport, which took place on Thursday, July 25, 2024, at the Louvre.

This was a meeting organized by the French Presidency and the IOC in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD).

The meeting brought together Heads of State and Government, leaders of international organizations, athletes, representatives of sports organizations and development partners.

On Friday, July 26, 2024, President Kagame and Mrs. Janet Kagame are scheduled to be received by French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

The Paris Olympics is scheduled to be held from July 26 to August 11, 2024. It will be the 33rd Summer Olympics since the first Summer Olympics was held in Athens, Greece in 1896.

Rwanda first participated in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984, sending three athletes.

Since then, there has been no misses, and since the 1992 Barcelona event, the number of participants has increased, the last one being in 2021 (Tokyo 2020), with five Rwandans participating.

This time, Rwanda is one of the countries participating in the Paris Olympics and will send athletes in eight events including cycling, swimming, skating and fencing.

Mukandanga Clémentine will run the 42km “marathon” and is one of two runners competing in the Games. The other is Nimubona Yves, who will run 10km.

The three cyclists are Manizabayo Eric ‘Karadio’ who will compete in the road race, Ingabire Diane who will compete in the women’s event and individual time trial (road race and ITT), and Queen Jazilla who will compete in the mountain bike event.

The swimmers are Oscar Mitilla Cyusa in the 100m butterfly and Umuhoza Uwase Lidwine in the 50m breaststroke.

Avenger Tufaha will participate in a sword fight.

In addition to the participants of this Olympics, France will also have Rwandan Mukundiukuri Jean de Dieu participating in the Olympic beach volleyball competition, who will set a record as the first black athlete to participate in this event.