The Paris 2024 Olympics logo depicts Marianne, the Olympic flame and a gold medal, all in one

The organising committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games has unveiled its visual identity for Paris 2024, with a logo that portrays the nationally recognised personification of the French Republic, Marianne. The emblem shows a coiffured woman with lips as her only facial feature, and as such is the first Olympic emblem to depict a face. The design also represents two other Olympic icons: the flame,  seen in Marianne’s hair flicks, and the gold medal.

A statement from the organising committee explains that Marianne “embodies the revolutionary spirit” of the Games, and, being a familiar figure to the French public, serves as a reminder that the Games “belong to the people”. “Her face is also a homage to female athletes,” continues the statement, “and a nod to history, as it was in 1900 at the Olympic Games in Paris that women were first allowed to compete.”

It is also the first time the emblem will be the same for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, only differentiated by the Olympic rings or Paralympic agitos underneath. Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant, chair of the IOC coordination commission, said at the unveiling ceremony yesterday (21 October) that the logo reflects Paris 2024’s desire to “put people at the heart” of the Games, and “brings together the values, history and French touch that will make these Olympic Games truly special.”

The rest of the identity draws inspiration from art deco and art nouveau, with an original typeface that harks to Paris’ iconic, famously art nouveau Metro signs. The typeface comes in seven weights and styles, each inspired by different archival typefaces such as Fonderie Typographique Francaise’s Excelsior (1920), Maximilien Vox Deberny-Peignot’s Banjo (1930) and John F. Cumming Dickinson’s Excelsior and Desdemona (1886). Simply called Variable, it’s designed to adapt “smoothly” on all digital media.

The identity was revealed via a film that tracked 700 runners around various routes in central Paris, who gradually revealed the form of the Marianne emblem. It was revealed in full at the Grand Rex cinema in Paris at 20:24.