This Saturday, April 6, the Paris Olympic Games were discussed at length on the show What an era! broadcast on France 2 and presented by Léa Salamé. Among the guest list, Tony Estanguet, former Olympic medalist and above all today president of the Organizing Committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The opportunity for Léa Salamé to return to the many controversies which taint these future Games, such as the possible participation of Aya Nakamura in the opening ceremony or that concerning the remuneration of Tony Estanguet.
But it wasn’t just the Olympic champion who talked about sport on the show. Sports journalist Matthieu Lartot was also the guest of What an era! on the occasion of the release on April 4 of his book We don’t amputate the heart. A book which recounts his goal of covering the 2023 Rugby World Cup despite cancer and an amputation of his right leg. The journalist thus returned in detail to this adventure, before announcing big news.
Olympic Torch Bearer
The presenter of Stage 2 announced that he would be one of the bearers of the Olympic flame on July 15 in Paris, just like the host of Koh Lanta
Denis Brogniart, also guest on the show this Saturday. “I’m going to come full circle because I wore it in 2004 during the Athens Games. So 20 years later, I’m very honored”confided Matthieu Lartot.
Enough to give ideas to Christophe Dechavanne, who regretted to Tony Estanguet, present around the table, not having been selected to carry this Olympic flame. “What the fuck is the selection criteria?”exasperated the co-host of What an era! Denis Brogniart, however, had the ready answer: “You have to be able to run 200 meters!”
To the laughter of the audience, Christophe Dechavanne indulged in a touch of humor, however unwelcome given the presence at his side of Matthieu Lartot, a leg amputee: “Oh well [je le fais] on one leg!”. An awkwardness immediately noticed by the former host, who quickly apologized to his neighbor at the table. Apologies accepted by the sports journalist: “I authorize you. I thought it would be Paul [de Saint-Sernin, humoriste de l’émission, ndlr] who would do this first?. A very daring joke but without consequences for Christophe Dechavanne.