A full Stade de France will welcome the first of Australia’s 460 Olympians into action, two days before the flame is lit in Paris.
Australia’s men’s rugby sevens team will be among the first of any sport to play when they open proceedings on Wednesday against Samoa at 3.30pm (2330 AEST).
The Games will have officially begun 30 minutes earlier, with men’s football matches in St Etienne – between Argentina and Morocco – and Uzbekistan v Mexico at Paris’s Parc des Princes kicking things off.
John Manenti’s side will be bolstered by winger Mark Nawaqanitawase before he defects to the NRL, while speedy playmaker Maurice Longbottom is also back from injury to run riot in Paris.
They present as a genuine medal chance in a wide-open tournament, a second game on Wednesday against Kenya at 7pm followed by their final pool game against Argentina on Thursday and a potential quarter-final later that night.
Men’s rugby sevens medals will be won on an action-packed Saturday, just hours after countries take part in a historic River Seine opening ceremony held outside a stadium for the first time.
The Matildas will begin their run for gold in Marseille on Thursday, facing Germany before moving to Nice to face Zambia on Sunday.
Australian archers Laura Paeglis and Peter Boukouvalas will also begin on Thursday.
A contingent of 460 is Australia’s third-largest Olympic team, behind Tokyo (486) and Athens (482) and also the third-biggest Paris delegation behind United States and the host nation.
Hopes are high that the Australian squad could medal in a record number of sports, with the current high-water mark being 20 at the Sydney 2000 Games.
Australia’s best-ever haul of total medals was the 58 won in Sydney, while the green and gold squad pocketed 17 golds in Athens in 2004 and Tokyo three years ago.
Both of those marks could also be under threat in Paris.
Nielsen’s Gracenote Sports, which supplies statistical analysis for sports leagues around the world, has predicted Australia will finish fifth overall on the medals table with 15 golds and 54 overall medals.
The United States is forecast to top the medals table again ahead of China.
Australia’s team have not set gold medal targets since Tokyo’s Games, something six-time track cycling medallist Anna Meares, chef de mission in Paris, applauded.
“In my experience, in my first Games I went from loving trying to win, to my last Games fearing what happened when I didn’t,” she said.
“That being said, we all come here to win.
“The Boomers are here to win. Every athlete’s here to win; we’re not here to make mistakes and make up the numbers.
“We sometimes forget how hard it is to win and how rare the opportunity is to compete, let alone bring home gold.
“Which is why when they are won, we celebrate hard, because they’re incredibly rare.”
