Paris 2024: Table Tennis reveals qualification procedure, Football updates document

Paris 2024 qualification is in full swing and we have received our latest update from the International Olympic Committee.

Table Tennis has confirmed its qualification procedure for the Games, leaving just Athletics, Aquatics, and the Cycling discipline of BMX Freestyle to go. Furthermore, Football has updated its procedure.

Table Tennis

Table Tennis maintains the same programme from 2020: a singles event for both genders, a team event for both genders, and a mixed doubles event. The quotas are also unchanged, with 86 men and 86 women. Each country can have two athletes per singles event, and one team of three or mixed doubles pairing in the other events. In total, this represents three men and three women as a maximum over the programme. Out of the 86 quota spots per gender, three are reserved for the hosts and one for universality places.

For the team event, there will be sixteen teams per gender. The winners of each continental qualification event (dates and locations TBC), as well as the runners-up for the Americas, will earn one team (a total of six), while the quarter-finalists from the 2024 World Teams Championships (16-25 February 2024, Busan, KOR) will also snag a quota. The highest ranked team not already qualified in the 2024 World Team Ranking (published immediately at the end of the WTC) will also qualify. Finally, the host nation will also qualify a place (unless already qualified in which the place will be reallocated to the ranking).

For the mixed doubles, again there will be sixteen pairs. Again, six will qualify from continental qualification events (the winners of each plus the runners-up for the Americas), while the semifinalists at a Designated Qualification Event (exact dates and locations TBC) at March or April 2024 will also get a place. The five highest ranked pairs in the Mixed Doubles Ranking of 7 May 2024 will also get a place, as will the hosts France (if they have already qualified a sixth pair will get the spot). A Mixed Doubles member must also be part of the Team if an NOC qualifies athletes in both the Mixed Doubles and the Team event for the relevant gender.

For the singles event, the sixteen teams will see their two highest members based on the World Ranking of 18 June 2024 qualify a place, for a total of thirty-two. Twenty-two places will be won by continent, by Continental Qualification Events (exact dates and locations TBC) that will be held in early May 2024, with six being earned in Asia and Europe, five being earned in the Americas, four in Africa, and one in Oceania. Mixed Doubles athletes will also be able to enter, and then fifteen (less the Mixed Doubles athletes) will qualify through the Singles World Ranking of 18 June 2024. Finally, one universality place will be added.

This system has a few changes from 2020: the North American and Latin American continents have been combined into one "Americas" continent, the team event now has one ranking place, and so on, but the system is very similar to 2020.

Football

Football hastily published their qualification system's first draft last month but left all but the North American qualification events as TBC, but have now published an update. On the women's side, we now know that the Asian qualifier (worth two spots) will be the Asian Qualifiers for the 2024 Women's Olympic Football Tournament (dates and locations TBC), although details on this remain scarce. More significant is the South American qualifier (also worth two spots), the Copa América Feminina 2022 (Various locations, 8-30 July 2022), which is already underway. On the men's side, the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup (dates and locations TBC) is confirmed as the Asian qualifier, worth 3.5 spots.

We are now very close to having a full set of qualification documents, with just a few federations to go.

Patrick Green

Writer, Totallympics News