Record 8.6 million tickets sold for Paris Olympics

Paris: The Paris Olympics already has one gold medal in the bag before it begins with 8.6 million tickets sold - a record for any Games.

"It's a record held by the 1996 Atlanta Games of 8.3 million tickets, and we've already passed that total now some time ago," the 2024 Games organiser Tony Estanguet told AFP on Thursday.

"We are at 8.6 million tickets for the Olympics, and over one million for the Paralympics," he reported.

Paris organisers forecast that total rising to 10 million for the July 26-August 11 sporting extravaganza, and 3.4 million for the Paralympics staged between August 28 and September 8.

"The good news is that in this final stretch we are making available a number of tickets for lots of sports," Estanguet said.

"There are lots of really good options at different prices both for the Olympics, Paralympics, and opening and closing ceremonies."

He added: "We are proud to have already beaten the record, but we can still do even better."