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Paris 2024 will have a busy qualification schedule, which will take athletes to every inhabited continent in 32 sports. While some ranking events and pre-qualifiers have already started, the first event that directly qualifies athletes (or more specifically in this case, teams) to the Olympics is just around the corner. A dream that will end in the second weekend of August 2024 when the gold medals in Men's Football are given out will begin nearly nine thousand kilometres away in Honduras as the qualifier for the North/Central American and Caribbean region, the 2022 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship takes place from 18 June to 3 July: two spots will be earned from this event, which is the only way North American teams can qualify for the Games. Out of the forty-one members of CONCACAF (the North American Football continental federation), thirty-four entered the tournament. The top sixteen ranked teams did not have to qualify, instead entering the group stage of the final tournament. The remaining eighteen teams did enter a qualifying tournament in the Dominican Republic, with the four winners of groups of four of five entering the final tournament. For their troubles, they will skip the group stage and have a bye directly to the Round of 16. These teams are Curaçao, who won a group containing Grenada, the British Virgin Islands, Sint Maarten and Dominica; the Dominican Republic, who topped a group on home soil including St. Lucia, Belize, Anguilla, and Saint Martin; Puerto Rico, who topped a group with St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Bermuda, and Barbados; and finally Nicaragua, who overcame a group with the Cayman Islands, Guyana, and the US Virgin Islands. There will be four groups, with Groups E and G being based in the Estadio Nacional in Tegucigalpa and Groups F and H being based in Estadio Morazán in San Pedro Sula. The groups are as follows: Group E: United States, Cuba, Canada, St. Kitts and Nevis Group F: Mexico, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname Group G: Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, Aruba Group H: Honduras, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Antigua and Barbuda The top three teams will join the four qualifiers in the Round of 16, with all action from the Quarterfinals onwards taking place in San Pedro Sula's 37,000-seater Estadio Olímpico, the home of the Honduras senior national team. Both finalists will reach the Olympic Games, and all four semi-finalists will also qualify for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia. Players have to be born in 2003 or later, with no overage players. For these young athletes, this is a huge opportunity. Since 1964 there has been a specific CONCACAF qualification tournament, but now this competition carries that torch instead, and there is a chance to become a hero. In the last Games, Mexico and Honduras qualified from this region, and they will be hoping to repeat that feat. The United States are defending champions from 2018 after the 2020 edition was cancelled. With an extra incentive this time, it promises to be an exciting tournament, where names once unknown can be thrust into the spotlight in the most famous and lucrative sport of all. Patrick Green Writer, Totallympics News

As we approach the start of the qualification period for Paris 2024, Football has become the latest sport to announce its qualification procedures for the Games. Football Football has a Men's 16-team tournament and a Women's 12-team tournament (no change from 2020): each team is a squad of eighteen players. Qualification is on a continental basis. One spot will be going to hosts France, with the other fifteen spots to continental qualification events (dates and locations TBC). Three spots will be earned for Asia, Africa and Europe, two for "North, Central America & the Caribbean" and South America, and one for Oceania. The final spot will be earned at a play-off between a team from Asia and Africa. While most events have not been detailed, the North/Central America and Caribbean competition will be the 2022 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship (Various locations, 18 June-3 July). Men's Football is unique as it is an underage competition, with a stipulation that fifteen of the eighteen players in the final squad be born in 2001 or later. What this means is a spot has been taken from Europe (although as the hosts are European there will still be four European teams) and given to the new Afro-Asian play-off. The North America (et al) region had a specific qualifying event in 2020, but no longer. On the women's side, which does not have age restrictions, there is a 12-team tournament. One place is given to the hosts France, with two spots for every continent apart from Oceania, that gets just one in continental qualification events (dates and locations TBC). Like the Men's tournament, only the details of the North/Central America and Caribbean region's tournament has been announced: the 2022 CONCACAF Women's Championship (Various locations, 4-18 July 2022). Compared to 2020, this removes a place from Europe (although once again there will still be three European teams as the hosts are European) and removes the Afro-South American play-off, instead giving two spots to both teams. In the CONCACAF Championship, the top team will qualify automatically, while the runners-up will play third place in a September 2023 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Play-in Series (dates and locations TBC). This document seems somewhat hastily assembled being released just a day before the start of the 2022 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship. It means that that competition is the first to begin that directly gives quotas (not counting ranking events or pre-qualification events). This latest update also means that only four sports still have to release information: Aquatics, Athletics, and Table Tennis have not released any documents, while Cycling has only released the procedure for its Mountain bike discipline and we are still awaiting the release on other systems. Patrick Green Writer, Totallympics News

Paris 2024 isn't too far away now, and on 26 June the first quota places will be allocated in Triathlon. Three more sports have revealed their qualification procedures since the last update: Sailing, Surfing, and Tennis. Sailing Sailing has taken a reduction in quotas from 2020, with 165 athletes per gender (down from 175). There are still ten events. On the men's side, the Windsurfer, Dinghy, and Skiff events survive, but the Dinghy (Heavyweight) and Two Person Dinghy events are gone, to be replaced by a Kite event. On the women's side, the Two Person Dinghy event is replaced by the Kite, which joins the surviving Windsurfer, Dinghy, and Skiff events and there is also a new Mixed Dinghy event to join the Mixed Multihull event. There are ten events in total; four each for men and women and two mixed events. There will be one boat per NOC per event. The first event worth consideration are the 2023 World Sailing Championships (The Hague, NED, 10-20 Aug 2023) which will qualify a large number of boats: 16 in the Men's/Women's Dinghy, 11 in the Windsurfing, 10 in the Skiff, 9 in the Mixed Multihull and 8 in the other events. The 2024 ILCA World Championships (various locations, dates TBC) will qualify 7 boats each in the Men's and Women's Dinghy event. Various Continental Qualifiers (dates and locations TBC) in 2023 and 2024 will earn one boat per continent in each event, the exception being the Men's and Women's Dinghy events which will have three boats earned in Asia and two in the other continents. In the 2024 Last Chance Regatta (dates and location TBC) five boats will be earned in the Windsurfing and Kite events, four in the Mixed Multihull event and three in all others. For countries in World Sailing's Emerging Nations Programme there will be a separate 2024 Emerging Nations Last Chance Regatta (dates and locations TBC), which will grant one spot in the Men's/Women's Windsurfing and Dinghy events to NOCs that have not qualified in this Sport yet. The hosts are also guaranteed one spot per event (with unused spots being allocated to the Last Chance Regatta) and there will be two spots per gender for Universality decided by the Tripartite Commission. There are a few differences from 2020, although much remains to be confirmed. However, the system seems similar, and there is no hint of the transition to ranking-based systems seen in other sports. Surfing Surfing responds as an additional sport with its two Shortboard events (one for each gender), and with an increased quota too: 24 per gender (at most two per NOC, which could be bumped up to three in certain cases) rather than 20. There is one spot for the host and one Universality place, meaning there are 22 qualification spots per gender. The pathway is different for men and for women. Ten spots for men and eight for women will be earned at the World Surf League Championship Tour (WSL CT) from January-September 2023 (exact dates and locations TBC). Continental representation will come from the 2023 Pan American Games (Santiago, CHI, Oct 20-Nov 5 2023) for the Americas and the May 2023 ISA World Surfing Games (WSG) (exact dates and location TBC) for all other continents: one spot per continent, for a total of five, and five spots for men and seven for women at the 2024 ISA WSG (dates and location TBC). Finally, the highest rated team (that is to say, NOC) at the 2024 ISA WSG and the 2022 ISA WSG (Huntington Beach, USA, Sep 17-24 2022) will earn one spot each, which does not count to the NOC quota meaning that these NOCs can qualify a maximum of three places instead of two. With the addition of those 'team places' notwithstanding as they correspond to the enhanced quota, the system seems mostly the same as 2020. Tennis Tennis returns from 2020 with the same events (a Men's and Women's Singles event, and a Men's, Women's, and Mixed Doubles event) and the same quotas (86 per gender). There are three host places and one universality place per gender, with a maximum of six athletes per NOC per gender (a maximum of four in singles, two teams in Men's/Women's doubles and one team in mixed doubles). There will be 64 players per event in Singles. 56 places will be earned from the Rankings of 10 June 2024, there will be one host place, and six "Final Qualification places". Four of these will be earned at continental events: the 2023 Pan American Games will yield two spots, and one each will be earned at the delayed 2022 Asian Games (Hangzhou, CHN, dates TBC) and the 2023 African Games (Accra, GHA, dates TBC). The final two will be reserved for Olympic Gold Medal or Grand Slam winners that have not qualified (confirmed on 12 June 2024). Finally, there will be one universality place. In Men's/Women's Doubles there are 32 teams each. One place is for the host country, and the remaining 31 are chosen by the rankings. Firstly, the top 10 doubles athletes based on the ranking of 10 June 2024 will qualify (this may be less than 10 teams if one athlete's partner is also in the top 10, or more if a few athletes are tied for 10th). The remaining spots until the 24th team (or more if the quota of 86 places is not yet reached) will be filled based on Combined Doubles Ranking. Any other places will be based on ranking, but chosen with priority to teams with both athletes in the singles event. In Mixed Doubles, there are sixteen teams: one host country team, and fifteen teams selected based on Combined Doubles Ranking of 10 June 2024. This is basically the same as the Tokyo 2020 system, except for the fact that the continental places will be won directly at events. Finally, we turn attention to Canoe Sprint. In the last update, we reported that the document was taken offline quickly, but it has now been reuploaded with some edits. Basically, one spot has been cut from the Canoe Single and Kayak Single events for both genders, and this means one extra boat in the Canoe Double events. All changes have come out of the World Championships table. This latest update means that just five sports have to release systems: Aquatics, Athletics, Football, and Table Tennis in their entirety, and Cycling which has revealed the system for Mountain Bike but not the other disciplines. Patrick Green Writer, Totallympics News

Since our last update last month qualification procedures for five sports in the Paris 2024 Olympics have been revealed. Badminton, Canoe (Slalom and Sprint), Equestrian (Dressage, Eventing, and Jumping), Skateboarding, Sport Climbing (Boulder/Lead and Speed), and Weightlifting. Furthermore, one discipline in the sport of Cycling (Mountain bike) has also been revealed. Badminton Badminton retains its programme from Tokyo 2020, with a singles and doubles event for both genders, as well as a mixed doubles event. In singles, the top 35 athletes in the BWF 'Race to Paris Ranking List' of 30 April 2024 will qualify, with the following permutations: there can only be one athlete per NOC, or at most two if both are in the top 16. There must also be at least two athletes per continent. One place is given to the host country France, and the remaining two places are for universality. In doubles, the same BWF 'Race to Paris Ranking List' of 30 April 2024 is used for 16 pairs per event, with at most one per NOC, or at most two if both are in the top 8. If an athlete qualifies in both singles and doubles, this means that a further place is opened for the ranking list in singles. The lists are based on events between 2023 and 2024. The only change from last year is one universality place has been taken away and added to the ranking list. Canoe Slalom Canoe Slalom has received a boost from 2020 to 2024, with an Extreme Canoe Slalom event joining the Kayak and Canoe Single for both men and women. Someone who qualifies for one event can enter other events for their gender too, but at most one per NOC (two in Extreme Kayak). One athlete per NOC can qualify a place in each event, and each athlete can only qualify one quota place. 15 spots for Kayak and 12 for Canoe Single will be earned at the 2023 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships (Lee Valley, GBR, 19-24 Sep 2023). In Kayak and Canoe Single, one place for each of the five continents will be earned at Continental Qualification Tournaments (Dates and locations TBC, 2023) while one place in Kayak will go to the host nation. The three places per gender in Extreme Canoe Slalom will be at the Extreme Kayak Global Qualification Tournament (dates and locations TBC, 2024). The addition of Extreme Canoe Slalom notwithstanding, the system is largely the same as Tokyo 2020. Canoe Sprint The IOC giveth and the IOC taketh away: while Canoe Slalom gains two events, Canoe Sprint will lose two. For both genders, the Kayak Single 200m has disappeared. The other Kayak Single event (1,000m for Men and 500m for Women) has returned, as has a Kayak Double event (now 500m for both genders: it used to be 1,000m for Men), a Kayak Four 500m event, a Canoe Single event (1,000m for Men and 200m for Women), and a Canoe Double event (also now 500m for both genders instead of 1,000m for Men and 500m for Women). The quotas have also been reduced somewhat from 123 to 118 per gender. The primary event for qualification will be the 2023 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships (Duisburg, GER, 23-27 Aug 2023). 7 boats in Kayak Single and Canoe Double, 6 in Kayak Double and Canoe Single, and 4 in Kayak Four will be earned here. There will be one host country boat in Kayak Single and Canoe Single. In every event apart from Kayak Four places will be filled at the Continental Qualification Tournaments (dates and locations TBC), with two places per continent in each event, apart from Kayak Single and Canoe Single, where Africa and Oceania will get just one place. Finally, there are two universality places per gender in the entirety of Canoe Sport, these can be allocated by the ICF in either Slalom or Sprint. At most one boat per NOC can qualify per event, although two per NOC can enter an event. The removal of the "World Cup 2" event is the biggest change from 2020. Interestingly, the document is now unavailable to access: it is listed on both the IOC and ICF site, but the file does not show up. Probably a technical gremlin, but there is a small chance this could have some meaning and the document had a mistake of some sort. Equestrian Dressage Dressage's programme is unchanged from 2020, with 60 athletes at open individual and team events. There are fifteen teams that qualify (at most one per NOC). One for the host country (France), the six highest ranked at the 2022 FEI Dressage World Championships (Herning, DEN, 6-10 Aug 2022), and the remaining nine at regional qualification events. For Groups A and B three places are earned at the 2023 FEI European Dressage Championship (Riesenbeck, GER, dates TBC), for Group C there will be a Group C 2023 Designated Olympic Qualification Event (date and location TBC) yielding one place, for Groups D and E two places are earned at the 2023 Pan American Games (Santiago, CHI, 26-29 Oct 2023), while for Group F one place is earned at the 2022 World Championships, and the same is true for Group G. The teams are made up of three athletes, and each of the three also qualify for the individual event. The remaining fifteen places (most one per NOC) will be qualified like so: the two highest-ranked athletes in the FEI Olympic Ranking (date released tbc) in Groups A, B, C, F, and G will take the first ten spots, the top two individuals from Group D or E at the 2023 Pan American Games and the top two individuals from those groups at the FEI Olympic Ranking will take up the next four spots, and finally, the top-ranked athlete irrespective of Group will get the final place. This system is the same from Tokyo 2020. Equestrian Eventing Similar to Dressage, Eventing remains unchanged since 2020 with 65 athletes in open individual and team events. Sixteen teams qualify (at most one per NOC), including the host nation. Seven places are earned at the 2022 FEI Eventing World Championships (Pratoni del Vivaro, ITA, 14-18 Sep 2022). Two teams are earned for Group A and B at the 2023 FEI European Eventing Championships (Pin du Haras, FRA, 9-13 Aug 2023). One place is earned at a Group C 2023 Designated Olympic Qualification Event (date and location TBC), while the Pan American Games (Santiago, CHI, 26-29 Oct 2023) yields two places for Groups D and E. The top two ranked teams at a Group F and G Designated Olympic Qualification Event (date and location TBC), while the final spot is earned at the FEI Eventing Nations Cup 2023 (date and location TBC) Again, the teams are made up of three teams, and each of the three also qualify for the individual event. The remaining seventeen places (at most two per NOC) through the FEI Olympic Ranking: two per group and then the highest three otherwise. This system has one more team than 2020. Equestrian Jumping Like the other Equestrian events, the Jumping programme is unchanged since 2020 with 75 athletes in open individual and team events. 20 teams qualify (at most one per NOC). There are twenty teams, including one for the host nation. Five places are earned at the 2022 FEI Jumping World Championships (Herning, DEN, 10-14 Aug 2022). The highest rated team at the FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final 2022 (Barcelona, ESP, 29 Sep-2 Oct 2022) get the next spot. The top three Group A and Group B teams at the 2023 FEI Jumping European Championship (Milano, ITA, September 2023, exact dates TBC) get spots, as do the top two at a Group C 2023 Designated Olympic Qualification Event (location and date TBC). The top three ranked Group D or E teams at the 2023 Pan American Games (Santiago, CHI, 26-29 Oct 2023) get a place, as do the top two teams at a Group F 2023 Designated Olympic Qualification Event (location and date TBC) and the highest two teams at a Group G 2023 Designated Olympic Qualification Event (location and date TBC). Finally, the highest ranked team at the FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final 2023 (date and location TBC) get a place. The three team members gain a place in the individual event, with the remaining fifteen spots (at most one per NOC) are earned like this: the top two athletes in the FEI Olympic Ranking (publication date TBC) in Groups A, B, C, F, and G get the top ten spots, with the three highest athletes at the Pan American Games getting a spot as well as the highest ranked athlete from Groups D and E. Finally, the highest-ranked athlete irrespective of group yet to qualify gets the final place. The system is similar to that from Tokyo 2020. Mountain Biking Mountain Biking has received a small hit in 2024, with 36 athletes per gender (instead of 38) in the cross-country events. The top eight NOCs in the UCI Mountain Bike Olympic Qualification ranking (published 28 May 2024) will get two spots, and the next ten will get one, for a total of 26. Three spots will be earned at the 2023 Continental Championships (dates and locations TBC) with one spot each for Africa, America, and Asia. Finally, four spots (at most one per NOC) will be earned at the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships (Glasgow and Scotland, GBR, 3-13 August 2023). Finally, one spot per gender each will be given to the host spot and universality places. The most consequential change is that no country can have three places in an event. Rowing Rowing keeps its fourteen events from 2020 (Single Sculls, Pair, Double Sculls, Four, Quadruple Sculls, Eight, Lightweight Double Sculls in both genders) but there are now 251 instead of 263 places per gender. The primary qualification event will be the 2023 World Rowing Championships (Belgrade, SRB, 3-10 Sep 2023). This will qualify eleven athletes per gender in Pair and Double Sculls, nine per gender in Single Sculls, seven per gender in Four, Quadruple Sculls, and Lightweight Double Sculls, and five per gender in Eight. Places will be available at World Rowing Continental Regattas for the four continents (dates and locations TBC, Asia and Oceania count together). Five places are available for each continent except Europe (for whom three is available) for Single Sculls, and two places for each continent except Africa (for whom one is available) in Lightweight Double Sculls. Finally, two places per event can be earned at the World Rowing Final Olympic Qualification Regatta (Lucerne, SWI, dates TBC) in around May 2024. There is also one host place as well as two universality places per NOC. The changes from Tokyo 2020 are mostly minor, and the rule that each NOC has one boat per event is retained. Skateboarding Skateboarding returns with Park and Street events for both genders, and is upgraded from 40 to 44 athletes in each gender, or 22 per event. There are 3 spots per NOC at most per event. The top 20 athletes in each event, including one per continent, in the Olympic Skateboarding Rankings of 24 June 2024 will win a spot, with the remaining places going to the host and one for universality. This is a change from 2020 where places were earned at the World Championships. Sport Climbing (Boulder/Lead) While in 2020 there was one Sport Climbing event per gender for all three disciplines combined: boulder, lead, and speed, but now speed is its own event with a combined boulder and lead event remaining. Overall, there are now 34 sport climbers per gender, up from 20. There are 20 places in the combined Boulder/Lead event, at most two per NOC. Three athletes per gender (at most one per NOC) can earn a spot at the IFSC Climbing World Championships (Bern, SUI, 1-12 Aug 2023). Five more spots per gender are earned at the IFSC Continental Qualifiers (dates and locations TBC), including the Pan American Games (Santiago, CHI, 20 Oct-5 Nov 2023), with the winner of each continental event that will be held in the last four months of 2023 gaining a spot. Finally, an Olympic Qualifier Series will take place in 2024, yielding ten spots per gender. The final places will be for the host country and the universality place. The system is similar to that from Tokyo 2020. Sport Climbing (Speed) In these events, there are fourteen places per gender (at most two per NOC). 2 spots per gender (at most one per NOC) will be earned at the IFSC Climbing World Championships (Bern, SUI, 1-12 Aug 2023). Five spots are earned per gender at the IFSC Continental Qualifiers (dates and locations TBC), including the Pan American Games (Santiago, CHI, 20 Oct-5 Nov 2023), with the winner of each continental event that will be held in the last four months of 2023 gaining a spot. Finally, an Olympic Qualifier Series will take place in 2024, yielding five spots per gender. There is also one place each for the host country and the universality place. Weightlifting Weightlifting has been downsized significantly from 2020 to 2024, with 98 athletes per gender in seven weight classes now being sixty per gender in five: for men, 61, 73, 89, 102, and +102kg; and for women, 49, 59, 71, 81, and +81kg. This is twelve athletes per event, one per NOC, and at most three athletes per NOC per gender. The top ten athletes in the IWF Olympic Qualification Ranking (OQR) will qualify a place, as will one athlete per event by Continental representation: one athlete per gender in each of the five continents: so an African in one event, an Asian in another and so on. The ranking is published on 28 April 2024. Finally, the remaining place will be either the host country (in two events per gender) or the universality place (in three). This system is similar to that from Tokyo 2020. There are still qualification procedures to be released for Aquatics, Athletics, Football, Sailing, Surfing, Table Tennis, and Tennis, as well as the rest of Cycling: so 8 sports in total. Patrick Green Writer, Totallympics News

In a breaking news story, the 2022 Asian Games, which will serve as a qualifying competition for a number of Olympic sports, has been postponed indefinitely, according to reports from the People's Republic of China. The event, to be held in Hangzhou in China's Zhejiang Province, was set to take place from 10 to 25 September 2022, with preliminary events taking place from 6 to 9 September in Basketball, Football, Modern Pentathlon and Rowing. No information has been posted yet on either the website of the Olympic Council of Asia, who runs the event, nor Hangzhou 2022, but considering the media situation in China, it is difficult to imagine that this news was posted without official approval. The situation is the same for the 2022 Asian Para Games, to be held in the same city, from 9 to 15 October 2022. No reason has been given for the postponement, but with COVID-19 cases rising within China and the country's government pursuing a strict lockdown amidst a "zero-COVID" policy, it is speculated that it is in connection with this. The Asian Games is a qualifying event for a number of sports for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, including Archery and Hockey. Officials in the IOC and amidst governing bodies will be scrambling to modify their schedules. This also raises serious doubts about the 2021 Summer World University Games, to be held in Chengdu, also in China. The event, already postponed once from 16-27 August 2021 to 26 June-7 July 2022, could also be on the chopping block. With hosting rights for the next event in 2023 being stripped from Yekaterinburg of the Russian Federation due to that country's invasion of Ukraine, speculation has risen that Chengdu 2021 will be delayed again until 2023, and the event originally in Yekaterinburg will be cancelled altogether, before normal service is resumed in 2025. The 2021 Asian Youth Games in Shantou, delayed once already from September 2021 to December 2022, will also be under threat. Patrick Green Writer, Totallympics News