The world-famous Belgian statue, Manneken Pis, debuted its 1152nd outfit to support the Belgian athletes participating in the 2024 Olympic Games, on Tuesday morning.
The new suit was revealed at the Brussels City Hall by the Order of Friends of Manneken Pis, in collaboration with Mayor Philippe Close (PS) and Chairman of the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee (BOIC), Jean-Michel Saive. Following a reception in the Militia Hall of Brussels City Hall, a delegation set out to publicly unveil the outfit at the iconic statue.
“It is an honour for me to pass through Brussels before heading to Paris, where Manneken Pis is being adorned in a new outfit for the occasion,” said Saive.
Mayor Close was present at the official inauguration of Manneken Pis’s costume. Close seeks to symbolically support Team Belgium through the iconic statue’s outfit change.
Mayor Philippe Close and BOIC - COIB chairman Jean-Michel Saive pictured during a parade at the launch of the new outfit of The Manneken Pis statue in Brussels. Credit: Belga/Nicolas Maeterlinck
A total of 165 athletes from Belgium will be travelling to Paris in a delegation of 417 people including coaches, medical staff and psychologists. This is the country's largest Olympic delegation since 1928.
This isn’t the first time Manneken Pis has dressed up to support the national team – previous Olympics, such as Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, have also seen the statue don a Belgian team outfit.
