The Paris Games are one year away, but please excuse Olympian Alexis Lagan for being a little gun shy.

Lagan started a similar countdown in the summer of 2019, only to see COVID-19 crash those plans and delay the games.

“I am approaching it with a little bit of caution anticipation,” said Lagan, an air shooter competitor who eventually made her Olympic debut when the Tokyo Games were held in 2021 after a yearlong delay. “It doesn’t truly feel real.”

Paris 2024: U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum hosts One Year Out Celebration in Colorado Springs

Officials locally in Colorado Springs — long self-titled Olympic City USA — and globally made efforts to make it feel real on Wednesday, kicking off the one-year countdown here with a ceremony at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic and in Paris with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach officially inviting the world’s nations (except Russia, Belarus and Guatemala) to the 2024 Summer Games.

Bach said “our fragile world, with conflicts, divisions and wars rising,” needs the Olympics’ “unifying power more than ever.”

Locally, the occasion was marked with a series of remarks from local officials, a demonstration of Olympic medals and a meet-and-greet with Lagan.

Officials used the opportunity to announce plans for Summerfest, which will coincide with the Games. Plans include opportunities for athlete interactions, live music and a variety of sports demonstrations.

“This family friendly event will have something for everyone,” Colorado Springs Sports Corp CEO Megan Leatham said.

A performance from On the Break, a local break dancing academy, accompanied a reminder that break dancing will join the fray as an Olympic sport in 2024.

“I just got back from Paris on Monday, and the city is abuzz with Olympic fever and preparations,” said Nicole Deal, USOPC senior vice president overseeing security and athlete services.

Despite the pomp, Lagan said athletes approach this calendar milestone with some degree of trepidation. Her own experience included not only COVID-19 but a broken ankle suffered three weeks before the Games. She was still able to compete and walk in the Opening Ceremonies — “a moment I will never forget” — but the close brush with disaster was another reminder of the fragility of this opportunity.

All of this is compounded by a shorter-than-normal window between Summer Games, which has meant near constant competition for some athletes. Lagan herself had just one month off following Tokyo before re-entering competition.

She said the atmosphere at the Olympic Training Center begins to change at this point, as the countdown officially begins.

“It charges up for sure,” said Lagan, who moved to Colorado Springs in 2017 to train and has since met her husband and made the community her home. “We all kind of tease and call it the Olympic Preparedness Personality, where some of us get a little bit more competitive than others. But luckily I have a group of teammates that work really close and all of us help keep each other balanced during that time.”

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