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The Paris Olympic Games start in a year’s time, but a collective frenzy has already been unleashed across the country. Sports-loving France is undoubtedly looking forward to the Games. 100 years after the 1924 Olympics, and after three resounding failures in the bidding for the 1992, 2008 and 2012 Games (ultimately awarded to Barcelona, Beijing and London), the French don’t want to miss this opportunity to stage the greatest sporting event of the century, with, for the first time in history, a free opening ceremony on the quays of the Seine, to be attended by several hundred thousand people.
On Tuesday, July 25, Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024, accompanied by eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt, unveiled the torch that will be carried by 11,000 individuals during the torch relay. This elegant and stylish torch was drawn by designer Mathieu Lehanneur and inspired by the three markers of the next Games: equality, water and appeasement.
That same evening, France Télévisions organized a grand concert featuring a host of artists and athletes on the forecourt of Paris City Hall, as well as at the future emblematic sites of Paris 2024 (the Eiffel Tower, the Joséphine Baker swimming pool, Versailles, the Trocadéro, the Seine…).
This Wednesday, to celebrate the start of the countdown, the newspaper L’Équipe published a special collector’s issue featuring the irreducible Gauls Asterix and Obelix on their way to Lutetia, ready to do battle with the Romans, Ostrogoths and Visigoths. The newspaper does not reveal whether a magic potion is being prepared, which would help the French athletes to set new records.
As Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, emphasizes in every interview, the infrastructure is ready and the Games will be clean. The Games will also accelerate Paris’s ecological transition; titanic work is underway to make the Seine swimmable, a wish so dear to Jacques Chirac who, in 1990, promised to bathe in the river within the next three years.
On the sporting front, France is gearing up on all fronts, with the avowed aim of surpassing its post-war Olympic records: the 43 medals won at Beijing 2008 and the 15 titles won at Atlanta 96. For the moment, the projection is very optimistic: a total of 69 medals, including 27 gold. Reachable? France has some outstanding champions in its ranks, as well as team sports teams that have been reaching the highest levels for several years (soccer, handball, basketball, rugby and volleyball).
So who will be the French superstar of the next Games? The top contender appears to be the phenomenonal Léon Marchand, who is already a double world champion in Fukuoka, Japan (series underway) and who has just smashed Michael Phelps’ record in the 400m 4-swim. Another strong candidate is Thierry Riner, a double individual Olympic champion and the reigning world champion for the 11th time, with plans to triple his medal count before retiring from the sport. Kevin Mayer, the decathlete who holds the world record who only won silver medals at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, is also expected to be a noteworthy competitor.
Other stars could steal the show, such as Kylian Mbappé, who has always set the Paris Olympics as an unavoidable goal, Victor Wembanyama, the new NBA star who could shine on the floors of Lille’s Stade Pierre Mauroy or Paris’ Arena de Bercy, Nikola Karbatic, who is in search of a fourth Olympic handball title, or Antoine Dupont, who could join the rugby sevens team, potentially foregoing the Six Nations Tournament.
Unless the sky is falling, the prospects of hosting a successful Games and collecting a slew of medals is highly realistic for the French.
