If you’ve been tuning in to events like the pole vault, steeplechase, or 100-meter dash at the Paris Games, you might’ve noticed something a little…different about the Olympic track. And, no, your TV’s display isn’t glitching: The surface really is purple.
Well, to be specific, two different shades of purple: Organizers chose a delicate lavender for the portion that athletes compete on, and a deeper violet for the technical areas. (Plus a nice complementary gray as an accent color, to call to mind the asphalt track used the last time Paris hosted the Games, way back in 1924.)
PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 04: A general view of athletes on the blocks before starting during the Men’s 100m Final on day nine of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 04, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)Michael Reaves/Getty Images
As for why the track is purple (rather than the typical red or even blue)? It primarily comes down to aesthetics: Organizers wanted the Paris track to stand out. In fact, the track is the first of its color to see competition, as Olympics.com reports. Revealed a few months before the Olympics, the hue was selected by Paris Games officials according to the requirements of World Athletics and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), the agency that produces coverage of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the Italian firm Mondo was commissioned to do the construction.
One other factor played a role in the decision as well: The viewing experience. The purple track simply lends itself better to the screen, offering better contrast so that you can catch every bit of the action, according to Olympics.com.
TOPSHOT – Athletes compete in the women’s 1500m heat of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 6, 2024. (Photo by Antonin THUILLIER / AFP) (Photo by ANTONIN THUILLIER/AFP via Getty Images)ANTONIN THUILLIER/Getty Images
“We had to work hard on the colors, so that the shades would work best to highlight the athletes. It’s a track, it has to be pretty, but above all it’s a stage on which the athletes are going to perform. What’s very important is that the colors and the athletes stand out,” Alain Blondel, athletics and para-athletics manager for Paris 2024, told Olympics.com in April.
And it might be wishful thinking, but we’d like to believe there’s one other explanation as well—a symbolic one. After all, purple is a color traditionally associated with kings and queens—and what are Olympic athletes but athletic royalty?
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