Sports brands are benefiting from an Olympic effect, with attendance increasing throughout France.
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The Olympic Games are rekindling sporting passions. Beyond the athletes, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have crowned other big winners: sports stores. Since the start of the competition, curious people have been rushing to these specialist stores to find “goodies” or equipment to get into, or get back into, sport. In Paris, footfall at the Decathlon store in La Madeleine has increased by 28%.
In the aisles, Philémon and Adrian, 19, have been chatting for about ten minutes in front of the table tennis bats. “We saw that during the Olympics, spin played a large part in the game and strategy compared to ball handling, they analyze, It’s a question of grip, after that we don’t know anything more.”
The idea for this ping-pong game did not come from nowhere. Adrian followed the Olympics closely, particularly the performances of French table tennis players like the Lebrun brothers. “The moment they were in individual, I took out my net that can be set up on the table and we continued to play. And then it got us going a bit. Now, we’re going to play real ping-pong on a real table,” they assure.
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A little further on, Ronald, 30, looks at the price of a swimsuit. If he decided to return to a pool, it is thanks to star swimmer Léon Marchand, quadruple gold medalist in Paris. “I did it for a long time when I was younger. And seeing Marchand shine like that makes you want to have fun too, to see what you can do in a pool.”he smiled.
“If I put myself to it 2 hours a week at least, I earned my medal!”
Ronald, who is going to start swimming againto franceinfo
A medal, Roman dreams of it. He is 10 years old and fell in love with a new sport during the Olympics: “Hurdling is fun because when you jump high, it looks like you’re flying.” Near the checkout, there are very few Paris 2024 “goodies” left. Since the Olympics, footfall at Decathlon stores has jumped by 10% throughout France.