The world's top athletes will float down the Seine this afternoon to officially commence the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Why it matters: Over 10,000 athletes representing more than 200 countries will show off their athletic prowess on the global stage over the next two weeks.

By the numbers: 35 Olympians from Pennsylvania will compete in the games, including a handful from Philadelphia.

What to expect: Over 16 days, there will be 329 medal events across 32 sports.

• The opening ceremony kicks off at 1:30pm ET, and is expected to last three hours. You can tune in on NBC and Peacock. Telemundo will also provide live coverage of the opening ceremony.
• Remember, Paris is six hours ahead of Eastern Time.

💪 Local athletes to watch:

• Justin Best (Rowing): The former Drexel standout is making his second appearance at the Olympics. Best was part of the men's eight-man boat that took fourth place at the 2020 Olympics.
• Ivan Puskovitch (Swimming): Puskovitch, of West Chester, is the fifth male in U.S. history to qualify in open water swimming.

Check out our full guide on Pennsylvania athletes to root for.

📺 Where to watch: Plant yourself in front of the TVs at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's pop-up gardens on South Street and in Manayunk.

• Enjoy summer snacks, cocktails, mocktails and shotsicles.

More places, people to watch

Here are some major competition dates:

• Soccer: July 24 – Aug. 10
• Artistic Gymnastics: July 27 – Aug. 5
• Basketball: July 27 – Aug. 11
• Beach Volleyball: July 27 – Aug. 10
• Swimming: July 27 – Aug. 4
• Track and Field: Aug. 1 – Aug. 11
• Breaking: Aug. 9 & 10

Zoom out: All eyes are on Simone Biles, and you'll have plenty of chances to watch her compete. She opens competition with team qualifying Sunday at 3:30am ET.

• The women's team final begins July 30 at 12:15pm ET.

View the full schedule

Two sporting events are set to make their Olympics debut in Paris.

Why it matters: For the first time in Games history, the world's best in breaking and kayak cross will get to gun for gold.

🎵 What to know: Breaking — which originated during the 1970s in the Bronx — pulls from various urban dance styles and techniques.

• 32 breakers (16 B-boys and 16 B-girls) will compete in one-on-one battles.
• Breaking is judged and scored on five criteria: technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality and originality, per Olympics.com.

What they're saying: Team USA B-boy Victor Montalvo tells Axios' Maxwell Millington it's important to remember the sport's roots in hip-hop, graffiti and DJ/MC cultures.

🛶 Kayak cross is another new kid on the block at the Paris Olympics.

How it works: It's a sprint race combining kayak and canoe slalom disciplines. Athletes will race against one another and the clock through an obstacle course with upstream and downstream gates (or buoys).

• Four athletes compete at a time and are launched off a ramp over 2 meters above the water to start.
• The first to complete the course with no penalties wins.

Zoom out: Canoe and kayak slalom have been included in the Olympic Games for more than 50 years with four events: men's kayak single (MK1), women's kayak single (WK1), men's canoe single (MC1) and women's canoe single (WC1).

• Kayak cross will be an additional event for both men and women.

Zoom in: Pennsylvania's Casey Eichfeld (Drums) will represent Team USA with North Carolina's Evy Leibfarth (Bryson City).

More on breaking and kayak cross

⛽ Motorists who filled up at Bucks County Wawa last week had to shell out thousands of dollars to get their vehicles fixed after they became inoperable or broke down.

• Wawa is aware of "an issue with the fuel equipment." (Inquirer)

⚖️ The driver accused of striking and killing CHOP doctor Barbara Friedes was speeding and had a blood-alcohol level that was twice the legal limit, District Attorney Larry Krasner said.

• Michael Vahey is facing several charges, including vehicular homicide. (CBS News)

🏒 The Flyers signed forward Travis Konecny to an eight-year extension worth $70 million. (ESPN)

OK, so you're not an Olympic athlete. But boy, you've got some gold medal-winning spectating skills!

• One more competition to check out: tomorrow's Red Bull greased pole contest.

Why it matters: It's the crème de la crème of Philly's greased pole community duking it out for supremacy.

Driving the news: The energy drink company enlisted 76ers' DJ Ghost to liven up the inaugural Championship Run as 100 Philadelphians try capturing the flag by sprinting up a greased pole.

If you go: Competition kicks off at 5:15pm in the estuary of the Spruce Street Harbor Park.

More details

The Staples Center. Heinz Field. And now the Wells Fargo Center.

Why it matters: Sixers and Flyers fans will soon be forced to embrace a new stadium name when the arena gets rebranded following the end of its naming rights deal with Wells Fargo.

Driving the news: Wells Fargo revealed this week that the bank has decided not to renew its naming rights deal with the arena owner Comcast Spectacor. The agreement expires in August 2025.

• The building has been known as the Wells Fargo Center since 2010, but it had several names before that, including the First Union Center.

The bottom line: We need a new, memorable name for our arena.

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