Ahead of the Olympic shooting events, enthusiasm is growing in Châteauroux

The sport shooting events will begin this week in Châteauroux, where the first medals of the Paris 2024 Games will be awarded.

Paris, Marseille, Nantes, Tahiti, but also Châteauroux: all these cities will host events during the Olympic fortnight. Châteauroux will be the scene of all the sport shooting events with rifles or pistols in the immense national shooting center, located on the former NATO base. Since the beginning of the week, the 360 ​​athletes and the 700 accompanying persons – coaches, judges, referees, organizers – have been arriving in the prefecture of Indre, 43,000 inhabitants, usually very quiet in summer.

As soon as they get off the train, the athletes, like Adam, an English shooter, are immediately taken care of by the volunteers of the organizing committee: “I’ve never been here before, this is the first time. It’s very peaceful“, he says. Like him, athletes from all over the world will parade in the coming days… And this young man tries to recognize their nationality: “They were dressed all in blue with the yellow cross flag…” he describes, speaking of the Swedish delegation.

Adrien, a sport shooter and great sports enthusiast, is over the moon: “It’s great to host an Olympic Games event! I don’t think it’s ever happened before, it’s a first. And then, for my part, I have the chance to go to a basketball event in Paris.” For the shooting, Adrien did not get any tickets, but he will “follow this through the euphoria that there will be in Châteauroux”he hopes. It is true that apart from a few flags at the station, in front of the town hall and in the main streets, the city is not yet living to the rhythm of the Games. Especially since there will be no fan zone.

But the public is coming, they assure us at the city’s tourist office: “It’s starting a little bit… We’re starting to have foreigners, to have quite a few requests on the phone for last-minute accommodation. We’re starting to see the flow coming a little bit.”a manager told franceinfo.

Meanwhile, the athletes are training. Some are wandering around town, like Mauro, an Argentinian shooter who admits, however, that he would have preferred the events to take place in Paris. “Of course, we would have preferred to be where most of the events take place. But it’s okay, the shooting range is really very beautiful, it’s good for us“, smiles the specialist. The shooting centre’s facilities are, in fact, renowned as some of the best in the world. Another source of pride for the people of Châteauroux is that the very first medals of the Games will be handed out there on Saturday 27 July, after the mixed ten-metre air rifle event.