Team Visa will support 117 Olympic and Paralympic athletes on the Road to Paris 2024

Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic Partner Visa announced that it will support 117 athletes and Para athletes on their journey to the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, as part of its longstanding Team Visa initiative.

The Team Visa roster for Paris 2024 marks the largest and most diverse group of Olympic and Paralympic athletes and hopefuls in the programme’s history, representing more than 60 countries/territories and 40 sports, including new addition breaking.

The 117 athletes selected have already won 175 Olympic and Paralympic medals collectively, although 15 members will vie to compete in their first Olympic or Paralympic Games. 

Para athletes in the roster include Teresa Perales (Para swimming, Spain), Nikos Papangelis (Para Cycling, Greece), Ardan Galymuly (Goalball, Kazakhstan), Davide Morana (Italy, Para Sprint), Desirée Vila (Spain, Athletics – Para Sprint/Long Jump), Jonathan White (Para canoe, Great Britain), Róisín Ní Ríain (Ireland, Para Swimmer), Birgit Skarstein (Norway, Para rowing), Sofyane Mehisoui (France, Wheelchair basketball),  Oksana Masters (USA, Para cycling), Ryan Neiswender (USA, Wheelchair basketball), among other stars.  

Skarstein, who is a Paralympic champion (gold medal in Tokyo 2020 in PR1 single skulls), said: “So what Visa does matters. They choose the values that I feel I can really stand for. That makes a difference because they are exposed to the whole world.”

Meanwhile, Mehisoui, added: “Seeing disabilities differently, discussing, exchanging, these are really great initiatives.”

They were all part of the roster from around the world that met at the recent Team Visa Summit in Paris for a two-day, creator-led content masterclass focused on brand immersion and best practices for how to tell their own stories within the broader creator economy.

Guided by cultural influencers and best-in-class social media creators, the athletes – who have a combined 45 million social followers between them – learned to express themselves through their passion points across art, technology, music, sport, fashion and food, while also learning hands-on social platform tips for elevating their personal brand and storytelling prowess.

The Summit also saw athletes take part in content challenges and collaborative sessions that included learning a new sport, creating an exclusive music track, trying their hand at street art, and capturing trending social media content around Paris.

“Today, athletes have the power to tell their own stories, transform fans into community, and generate commerce through their own creations,” said Frank Cooper, Chief Marketing Officer, Visa. “We gathered the Team Visa athletes in Paris to help them further develop their skills as creators and find new and effective ways to communicate, and engage and inspire people around the world.”

The Team Visa athletes also met young people from Sport Dans La Ville, a leading association for professional integration through sport in France, highlighting Etienne Bardelli’s inspiring mural in Stade Elisabeth to celebrate the community and incentivise youth sports participation.

Team Visa for Paris 2024 continues the company’s longstanding support for athletes from around the world as they prepare for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Since 2000, the programme has championed more than 600 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, who were all selected based on their athletic achievements, community involvement and alignment with Visa’s core values of equality, access and inclusion.