#ICYMI: TV Deal For Paris 2024; Candlestick Becomes Olympic Treasure; Lima 2019's Biggest Day

(ATR) #ICYMI -- In Case You Missed It ... Sometimes the best stories don't get the attention we think they deserve. Here are our staff picks for articles this week they really want you to know about.

Paris 2024 Set to Reach Wide French TV Audience

France Télévisions has struck a deal with Eurosport owner Discovery for exclusive free-to-air broadcasting rights to the Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024 Olympics.

The US media giant said Eurosport’s digital offering will show every minute of both Olympics "featuring every sport, every event and every gold medal".

Discovery’s deal with France Télévisions aims to support its ambition to engage more people, on more screens, with the Olympics than ever before in Europe.

Tuesday’s announcement extends France Télévisions agreement to be the free-to-air destination for coverage of the Olympics in France through 2024.

Timo Lumme, managing director of IOC Television and Marketing Services, said the collaboration between Discovery and France Télévisions meant Olympic fans in France "will have innovative, comprehensive coverage across their media platform of choice".

Discovery, Eurosport and France Télévisions will work closely with the Paris 2024 organizing committee and its leadership in delivery and promotion of the Games, helping to engage French citizens and offer platforms to bring to life its #MadeForSharing vision of the Games slogan.

Commenting on the deal, Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet said: "When we think about the Games, it’s often magical television memories that come to our mind – achievements, emotions, victories, sometimes failures."

"All these moments, we lived them with France Télévisions since the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games."

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Candlestick Becomes Olympic Treasure

A candlestick used by a Swedish family turned out to be a rare Stockholm 1956 Olympic torch that already has a bid of $280,000 in the current online auction by Ingrid O’Neil.

The 321-lot auction closes May 4 at www.ioneil.com.

Fewer than 10 examples are known of the Stockholm torch.

Because of a quarantine on horses in Australia, the 1956 Equestrian Games were held in Stockholm. The torch is similar to the Melbourne 1956 version, but the writing around the bowl is incused instead of raised.

This is the second Stockholm torch O’Neil has handled in five years. In April 2014, she sold one for $412,500 (plus 15 percent commission for a total of $474,375) after spirited bidding.

"The first one I had was from a 20-year-old exchange student from the U.S. who went to Stockholm and lived with a family," O’Neil told Around the Rings. "He didn’t remember the name of the family, but he remembered they had a lot of horses."

She said that when the student returned to the U.S., the family’s son sent him the torch as a remembrance of his stay in Stockholm.

Years later, the man examined the torch and was confused because he did not know Stockholm had played a part in hosting the 1956 Games.

He sent O’Neil photos.

"I called him and he said, ‘What is it worth -- $100, $200?’ she said. "I said, ‘Well, I would start it at $175,000 and he said, ‘Oh my, my knees are so wobbly, I have to sit down.’"

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Lima 2019's Biggest Day

The penultimate day of the XVIII Pan American Games in Lima will feature the largest number of finals during the competition.

A total of 20 medal events are scheduled on the eve of the closing ceremony on August 11, including men's soccer, the national sport of Peru. The opening ceremony is July 26.

The Peruvians trust that hosting the Games for the first time will mean their athletes will produce the best ever performance by the country. If in addition their soccer team qualifies for the final on August 10, it would just be the icing on the cake.

Peru has participated in men's soccer once in the 17 previous Games, finishing sixth at Toronto 2015. The sport has been on the calendar of all the Games beginning with the inaugural edition in 1951.

Women's soccer debuted at the 1999 Winnipeg Games but Lima will be the first time Peru will be in that competition.

The biggest surprise around these two continental tournaments is that Brazil will not be competing in either one.

Brazil and Mexico have each won four men's soccer titles, trailing Argentina which has won six. Uruguay has won the gold twice while the United States and Ecuador have each won once.

Despite the tournament being held 17 times, 18 gold medals have been handed out. Two gold medals were awarded in 1975 in Mexico City, when the final between Mexico and Brazil, tied at one, was stopped by the referee in extra time because of a power failure at the Azteca Stadium. It was the last day of the Pan American Games and there was no time to either complete or replay the game, so the gold was shared.

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