Olympics 2024: Medal Winners Celebrate in Front of Fans as Organizers Launch Champions Park in Paris

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Olympics 2024 medal winners celebrated in front of the fans as some athletes chanted, danced and even cried with medals around their necks and the Eiffel Tower in the background as the organizers launched the Champions Park on Monday (July 29).

In a first for the Summer Olympics, organizers gave athletes a place to celebrate their victories and be closer to fans. Champions Park is located at the Trocadero, the site of the opening ceremony of the Paris Games.

The Champions Parks offers a place for Paris Olympics 2024 winners to share their experience with family members and thousands of fans who can experience being part of the Games without the need to buy tickets or make reservations.

The French men's rugby team, which beat Fiji over the weekend to win gold, were the first to be welcomed at the park, dancing and running around the stage as the crowd chanted. They posed at the end of the stage for a photo with the Eiffel Tower in the background, then led the crowd to chant with them.

"The whole location was the coolest thing," French rugby player Aaron Grandidier Nkanang said. "We're just in front of the Eiffel Tower, and there's thousands of people out to come and cheer us on. I feel as if this year, they've done a really good job of treating after winning athletes with memories that we're going to cherish forever."

American Haley Batten, a silver-medalist in mountain biking, called it a "crazy experience." "The Olympics in Paris is just something special. I was soaking all that up and it's crazy to actually achieve a medal and to be able to enjoy this," she said.

French mountain biker Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, the gold medalist, couldn't hold back tears as fans chanted her name. Others at Champions Park included athletes who won medals in fencing, judo and skateboarding.

Each celebration will hold a ceremony for the medal winners of the previous days. Athletes can bring up to four family members to watch them. Expect more winners to connect with fans and family in the coming days as the medal rounds come thick and faster.

Tennis great Serena Williams and former Gymnast are among the former Olympians scheduled to participate in the celebrations that will take place nearly every day at the Champions Park with music, entertainers and live broadcast of the Games set to be feature of the location.

Up to 13,000 fans will be allowed at the venue each day, and organizers expect some 130,000 visitors through the end of the Olympics. More than 1000 athletes are expected to celebrate their victories with fans at the Champions Park, according to organizers.