Australia among nations most excited for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games

Ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics this week, new research from YouGov has found that Australia is one of the most interested nations in the Summer Olympic Games.

Of the 11 nations surveyed, 52% of Australians indicated that they were interested in the games, second only to Italians, with 53% interested.

Other engaged nations include Mexico (52%), and UAE (49%).

Of the countries surveyed, Germany registered the lowest amount of interested residents (35%), followed by the USA (38%), and host country France (41%).

Aussie men have indicated that they’re slightly more interested in the Summer Olympic Games than women, with 53% of men saying they were somewhat or very interested in the games, compared to 50% of women.

As for interest in sports, Swimming is the most anticipated Olympic sport for Australians. 54% of Australians said that Swimming was one of the top five sports they were most looking forward to watching at this year’s Summer Olympics.

36% indicated that Athletics was in their top five, 24% Soccer, 23% Tennis, and 22% were looking forward to the Diving event.

How does this vary by gender?

For men, swimming is still the most anticipated event, with 50% of men indicating it’s in the top five events they’re looking forward to. 37% were eager for athletics, 32% for soccer, 26% Basketball, and 25% for Tennis.

Comparatively, Swimming (57%) and Athletics (35%) were still the top two most anticipated sports for women, however women were also eager to watch Diving (30%), Artistic Gymnastics (28%) and Rhythmic Gymnastics (27%).

Methodology: YouGov Surveys data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 10 markets with sample sizes varying between 1000 and 2050 for each market. Australian sample sizes were 1001 and 1018. All surveys were conducted online in April and May 2024. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico, which use urban representative samples.