Why is the Paris 2024 Olympic Games athletics track purple?

As Day 7 gets underway in the Paris Olympic Games, the track and field events are added to the calendar. The Parc de Princes stadium can fill to the rafters for fans who are eager to see their countries perform at the elite level, with gold, silver and bronze on their mind.

As the racing gets underway, one thing immediately stands out to those watching: the colour of the track. Normally, we’re used to seeing the brick red tracks around stadiums, but Paris is set to be different.

Why is the running track purple at the Paris Olympics?

This year, Olympic organisers chose purple to replace the Stade de France famous previous blue track, matching up with the official colours of the Games.

In addition to the purple switch, grey is used on the turns to mimic the track from 1924, which is when Paris last hosted the Olympics.

Manufactured by Mondo, an Italian company, the track was relaid for the Olympics. Normally, during football and rugby matches, it is hidden away from view.

Alain Blondel, sports manager in charge of athletics for Paris 2024, said that the organisers wanted “to come up with a track that was different from what we had seen, to maintain the creative approach, [and] to go a little bit outside the box.

The look of the Games includes three colours for all the competition venues: blue, green and purple. We decided on this purple track with different tones: lighter for the track, darker for the service areas, and grey for the turns at the end of the bend, reminding of the ash-coloured tracks that were there 100 years ago for the Olympic Games [in] Paris [in] 1924.”