How to watch the 2024 Paris Olympics in Germany - and who to look out for

The 2024 Olympics are taking place in Paris this year. The event kicked off on July 26th, and sporting events are continuing on through August 11th.

Basketball world champion Dennis Schröder and two-time judo world champion Anna-Maria Wagner were selected to represent Germany at the opening ceremony.

German athletes compete in nearly all of the 32 Olympic summer sports, and the country is a strong contender overall at both the Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics. 

At the 2021 Summer Games in Tokyo, Germany came in 9th overall in terms of medals earned, and in the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing it came in second.

How to watch the Olympics on TV in Germany

In Germany, the Olympic games will be shown by four broadcasters: ZDF, Discovery+, ARD Mediathek and Eurosport.

If you have a TV with a cable connection, or similar service, you can turn to the Eurosport channel, as well as ARD or ZDF, for extensive coverage. 

For those without cable TV connections, you can also watch live streams of Olympic events on the ZDF, Discovery + or ARD websites.

German athletes to watch at the Paris Games

Among Germany’s best bets for bringing medals home from France is 30-year-old long jumper Malaika Mihambo, who leaped into stardom among the world’s top track stars when she won a gold medal at the European Athletics Championship in Berlin in 2018.

One year later she set a world record at the World Championships in Doha with a jump of 7.3 metres – a record that hasn’t been surpassed since.

The German basketball team, led by Dennis Schröder, also enters the games with high esteem. 

The team includes all 12 players who won the 2023 FIBA World Cup, and four additions.

The German national team is comprised of players from the top teams in the German league – such as Bayern Munich and Alba Berlin – but also players from NBA teams in the US and other top teams in Spain, Italy and France.

In the sport of dressage – that’s equestrian showcase riding, sometimes called "horse ballet" – rider Isabell Werth will be taking part in her seventh Olympic Games at the age of 55. 

Werth has a shot at tying the woman’s record for most Olympic gold medals earned. 

Werth currently holds seven gold medals from previous Olympics. If she were to win two more in Paris, she would tie with Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina who currently holds the record with nine.

Also in for his seventh Olympics is table tennis world star Timo Boll.

Boll is the record European champion, having earned the title eight times. Also, in 2003 he became the first German athlete to lead the world rankings. He currently holds two silver and bronze medals, and plans to end his career after this final Olympics in Paris.

In an interview with German media, Boll admitted that it was hard for him to qualify for the team this time due to “many injuries and of course also due to the ravages of time”.

"The Olympic Games are something very special," he added. 

To catch a glimpse of the above athletes, and many others in action, be sure to tune via the broadcast channels listed above.