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The Most Iconic Venues of the Paris Olympics

La Dame de Fer (The Iron Lady) needs no introduction and is still going strong at 135 years old. (AP)
La Dame de Fer (The Iron Lady) needs no introduction and is still going strong at 135 years old. (AP)
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The Most Iconic Venues of the Paris Olympics

La Dame de Fer (The Iron Lady) needs no introduction and is still going strong at 135 years old. (AP)
La Dame de Fer (The Iron Lady) needs no introduction and is still going strong at 135 years old. (AP)

There will be no shortage of iconic venues at the Paris Olympics.

From the Palace of Versailles to the Place de La Concorde and of course, the Eiffel Tower, organizers have made sure the City of Light’s most famous landmarks will take center stage during the Olympics.

Competitions will be held right in the heart of the city, in the Seine River and inside historic buildings such as the Grand Palais.

Paris is also making use of its existing sports infrastructure, including the Roland Garros tennis stadium and Stade de France, the national soccer stadium.

Here’s a look at the most iconic spots that will host competitions during the July 26-Aug. 11 games in the French capital, according to The AP.

- EIFFEL TOWER

La Dame de Fer (The Iron Lady) needs no introduction and is still going strong at 135 years old. Men's and women's volleyball players get to compete at the feet of the 330-meter (1,083-foot) behemoth. They will be watched by nearly 13,000 fans at the temporary Eiffel Tower Stadium on the nearby Champ de Mars, where Parisians and tourists like to have picnics on the grass or watch July 14 firework displays.

-PALACE OF VERSAILLES

Once the residence of French royalty, the chateau is one of the most popular tourist spots in Paris. Louis XVI — the Sun King — and Queen Marie Antoinette held lavish banquets at Versailles before they were beheaded during the French revolution. During the Paris Games, equestrian riders will gallop at the heart of the palace’s gardens. Modern pentathlon events will also take place there.

-GRAND PALAIS

The palace with its green-tinged glass roof was built for the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900. More than 6,000 tonnes of steel were used to build the nave. Fencing and Taekwondo fans will get to watch events here.

-HOTEL DE VILLE

The imposing-looking City Hall has a massive façade stretching high and wide, and gives off a golden hue when lights are switched on at night. It's been around since 1357. Having stood the test of time, it seems rather fitting to start the marathon from its paved forecourt.

-LA CONCORDE

Place de la Concorde will always have its place in France’s gory past. It is where France’s banquet-loving king and queen were guillotined in 1793. Prominent French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre met the same fate a year later. It’s also been home to the Luxor Obelisk for nearly 200 years. The idea to transport imposing obelisks to Paris came about at the turn of the 19th century, during Napoleon Bonaparte’s military campaign in Egypt. This summer breakdancers as well BMX freestylers, 3-on-3 basketballers and skateboarders will share the attention at La Concorde.

-LES INVALIDES

The gloriously decorated Pont Alexandre III bridge connects the right and left banks of the Seine River. People crossing the bridge can catch cycling and triathlon events, or look down to watch swimming events in the Seine River, before walking over toward a grassy esplanade which leads to Les Invalides. It's the more common name for Hôtel des Invalides, which houses Napoleon's tomb. A haven for military enthusiasts, the much-admired Paris landmark has a giant golden dome standing at 107 meters (351 feet) and is covered with nearly 13 kilograms (29 pounds) of gold leaf. Perhaps fittingly, giving its military feel, Olympic archers will set their sights here.

-TROCADERO

From its elevated position, the Trocadéro faces the Eiffel Tower in a stare-down contest between famed landmarks. It's where hordes of kilt-wearing Scottish soccer fans congregated at the 1998 World Cup, singing “We're the famous Tartan Army" as they danced and drank heartily. It should offer a great vantage point for watching triathlon, road cycling, marathon and race walking events.

-BERCY ARENA

The 20,000-seat indoor arena has witnessed much sporting drama over the years. Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu lost in the fifth set of the deciding rubber against Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the 2002 Davis Cup final. Tennis great Novak Djokovic has won the Paris Masters a record seven times at the arena, which has also hosted regular-season NBA games and international handball matches. Oh, and Madonna and French rocker Johnny Hallyday held concerts inside the the pyramid-shaped building. Located a stone’s throw from the Finance Ministry, it will host artistic gymnastics, basketball and trampoline events.

-PARC DES PRINCES

The 48,000-seat stadium is home to soccer club Paris Saint-Germain and where France superstar Kylian Mbappé played for seven years before leaving the club this year. France used to regularly play rugby and soccer matches at “Le Parc." Fourty years ago soccer great Michel Platini led France to its first European Championship title at the stadium. Parc des Princes will host soccer matches during the Paris Games, including the men's and women's finals on Aug. 9 and Aug. 10, respectively.

-STADE DE FRANCE

Another French soccer great, Zinedine Zidane, will always have a special place in the history of the Stade de France. The attacking midfielder scored the first goal when France's national stadium was inaugurated in 1998. Later that year he celebrated France's first World Cup trophy there after scoring two goals in the 3-0 win over Brazil in the final. The 80,000-capacity stadium hosted the track and field world championships in 2003 as well as many international soccer and rugby games since. It will hold athletics competitions on a new-look purple track as well as rugby sevens matches.

-STADE VELODROME

“A jamais les premiers” (Forever the First). That's how passionate Marseille fans goad supporters from cash-rich arch rival Paris Saint-Germain, by reminding them that Marseille remains the first — and only — French side to win the Champions League, back in 1993. Marseille's 67,000-capacity Stade Velodrome boasts one of the most fervent atmospheres in European soccer and hosts a total of 10 Olympic soccer matches, including two semifinals. The US men's and women's teams each play a group-stage game there.

-LA DEFENSE ARENA

Situated near a vibrant business hub some around 11 kilometers (7 miles) northwest of central Paris, the boat-shaped arena has hosted seminars and club rugby matches of Racing 92 since 2017. Now it will host Olympic swimming thanks to its multipurpose structure. The Arena's façade is made up of aluminium and glass scales and looks impressive when lit at night.

-STADE YVES-DU-MANOIR

The stadium is located the northwest suburb of Colombes and links the city's Olympic past and its present. In 1924 it was the main venue for the Paris Games. It's more low-key this time around, hosting field hockey matches.

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Varieties

Snowstorm Paralyzes Vienna Airport

People wait at a tram stop after heavy snowfalls in Vienna, Austria, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
People wait at a tram stop after heavy snowfalls in Vienna, Austria, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
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Snowstorm Paralyzes Vienna Airport

People wait at a tram stop after heavy snowfalls in Vienna, Austria, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
People wait at a tram stop after heavy snowfalls in Vienna, Austria, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl

Massive snowstorms caused power outages and transport chaos in Austria on Friday, forcing the Vienna airport to temporarily halt all flights.

Flights departing from the capital, a major European hub, were cancelled or delayed, and more than 230 arrivals were similarly disrupted or rerouted.

"Passengers whose flights have been delayed are asked not to come to the airport," the facility said in a statement.

The area received 20 centimeters (nearly eight inches) of snow, national news agency APA reported.

The main highway south of Vienna was closed for several hours, and other sections of highway were temporarily inaccessible because of snowdrift, stranded lorries or poor visibility, said the national automobile association, OAMTC.

According to AFP, electric companies reported power outages in several regions in the south and east, including Styria, where 30,000 homes lost electricity.

The weather was forecast to improve from around midday, but the risk of avalanches remained high.

Varieties

NASA Delivers Harsh Assessment of Botched Boeing Starliner Test Flight

NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were stuck on the ISS for nine months. Handout / NASA TV/AFP/File
NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were stuck on the ISS for nine months. Handout / NASA TV/AFP/File
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NASA Delivers Harsh Assessment of Botched Boeing Starliner Test Flight

NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were stuck on the ISS for nine months. Handout / NASA TV/AFP/File
NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were stuck on the ISS for nine months. Handout / NASA TV/AFP/File

NASA on Thursday blamed what it called engineering vulnerabilities in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft along with internal agency mistakes in a sharply critical report assessing a botched mission that left two astronauts stranded in space.

The US space agency labeled the 2024 test flight of the Starliner capsule a "Type A" mishap -- the same classification as the deadly Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters -- a category that reflects the "potential for a significant mishap," it said.

The failures left a pair of NASA astronauts stranded aboard the International Space Station for nine months in a mission that captured global attention and became a political flashpoint.

"Starliner has design and engineering deficiencies that must be corrected, but the most troubling failure revealed by this investigation is not hardware. It's decision-making and leadership," said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman in a briefing.

"If left unchecked," he said, this mismanagement "could create a culture incompatible with human spaceflight."

The top space official said the investigation found that a concern for the reputation of Boeing's Starliner clouded an earlier internal probe into the incident.

"Programmatic advocacy exceeded reasonable bounds and place the mission, the crew and America's space program at risk in ways that were not fully understood at the time," Isaacman said.

He said Starliner currently "is less reliable for crew survival than other crewed vehicles" and that "NASA will not fly another crew on Starliner until technical causes are understood and corrected" and a problematic propulsion system is fixed.

But the administrator insisted that "NASA will continue to work with Boeing, as we do all of our partners that are undertaking test flights."

In a statement, Boeing said it has "made substantial progress on corrective actions for technical challenges we encountered and driven significant cultural changes across the team that directly align with the findings in the report."

- 'We failed them' -

Isaacman also had harsh words for internal conduct at NASA.

"We managed the contract. We accepted the vehicle, we launched the crew to space. We made decisions from docking through post-mission actions," he told journalists.

"A considerable portion of the responsibility and accountability rests here."

In June 2024 Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams embarked on what was meant to be an eight-to-14-day mission. But this turned into nine months after propulsion problems emerged in orbit and the Starliner spacecraft was deemed unfit to fly them back.

The ex-Navy pilots were reassigned to the NASA-SpaceX Crew-9 mission. A Dragon spacecraft flew to the ISS that September with a team of two, rather than the usual four, to make room for the stranded pair.

The duo, both now retired, were finally able to arrive home safely in March 2025.

"They have so much grace, and they're so competent, the two of them, and we failed them," NASA associate administrator Amit Kshatriya told Thursday's briefing.

"The agency failed them."

Kshatriya said the details of the report were "hard to hear" but that "transparency" was the only path forward.

"This is not about pointing fingers," he said. "It's about making sure that we are holding each other accountable."

Both Boeing and SpaceX were commissioned to handle missions to the ISS more than a decade ago.

Varieties

Abandoned Baby Monkey Finds Comfort in Stuffed Orangutan

A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Abandoned Baby Monkey Finds Comfort in Stuffed Orangutan

A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

At a zoo outside Tokyo, the monkey enclosure has become a must-see attraction thanks to an inseparable pair: Punch, a baby Japanese macaque, and his stuffed orangutan companion.

Punch's mother abandoned the macaque when he was born seven months ago at the Ichikawa City Zoo and when an onlooker noticed and alerted zookeepers, they swung into action.

Japanese baby macaques typically cling to their mothers to build muscle strength and for a ‌sense of security, ‌so Punch needed a swift intervention, zookeeper ‌Kosuke ⁠Shikano said. The keepers ⁠experimented with substitutes including rolled-up towels and other stuffed animals before settling on the orange, bug-eyed orangutan, sold by Swedish furniture brand IKEA.

“This stuffed animal has relatively long hair and several easy places to hold," Shikano said. "We thought that its resemblance to a monkey might help ⁠Punch integrate back into the troop later ‌on, and that’s why ‌we chose it."

Punch has rarely been seen without it since, ‌dragging the cuddly toy everywhere even though it is ‌bigger than him, and delighting fans who have flocked to the zoo since videos of the two went viral, Reuters reported.

“Seeing Punch on social media, abandoned by his parents but still trying ‌so hard, really moved me," said 26-year-old nurse Miyu Igarashi. "So when I got the ⁠chance to ⁠meet up with a friend today, I suggested we go see Punch together.”

Shikano thinks Punch's mother abandoned him because of the extreme heat in July when she gave birth.

Punch has had some differences with the other monkeys as he has tried to communicate with them, but zookeepers say that is part of the learning process and he is steadily integrating with the troop.

"I think there will come a day when he no longer needs his stuffed toy," Shikano said.