How the fervor of the Paris Games transforms these French into “Olympix”

Having trouble getting away from the TV? Even at work? Do you find yourself passionately following the events of disciplines that you didn’t even know existed a few days ago? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. After weeks of criticism, worries, doubts, and protest, the Olympic Games seem to have won the hearts of the French, even the most reluctant. After the “footix” of 1998, here are the “olympix” of 2024.

In the Club France fan zone, in Paris in the heart of the Parc de La Villette, many visitors had not planned to come. This is the case for Mickaël, 40 years old. The Parisian confides that he even planned to flee the capital for the period. For him, finding himself in the middle of the crowd, in front of a big screen broadcasting an archery event “is something unexpected. I think the opening ceremony triggered something a little bit.”

The same goes for Jérôme, 35, who was still on a beach in the South-West last week: “I absolutely did not expect to come here.” In recent days, he discovered BMX and became passionate about it. “I bought a BMX. I have 15 days, I’m going to get startedhe jokes. We are discovering board sports thanks to this extraordinary event, it’s great!”

François, 28, finds himself screaming during the events to support the French athletes. “I follow sports but not all sports. For example, I don’t usually watch archery at all and here, we’re right in front of it. Ping-pong, we’re right on top with the Lebrun brothers. Any sport in which a Frenchman is involved, we’re interested in it,” he summarizes.

And he takes this fervor well beyond Club France: “Even at work, we are on dual screens and on the phone at the same time for sports that are not broadcast.” According to François, chauvinism largely explains this excitement: “We are fully behind all the French. We are in the emulation in Paris. We love sport, but to this extent, we didn’t think!”

Joëlle, a septuagenarian, was trained at Club France by friends. The rest of the year she doesn’t do any sports, but this afternoon, she admits to “take part in the game.” The bronze medal won by French judoka Maxime-Gaël Ngayap Hambou stunned her: “Earlier I was watching judo, I can’t say I was passionate about it, that’s not true, but I was very attracted.”

On the lawn of the fan zone, Ysée, 20, is accompanied by a friend. Usually, she is interested “a little bit of football, but that’s it.” One discipline particularly interested her: “I didn’t know about field hockey. I knew about ice hockey, but not on field. It’s a great discovery. Seeing a team sport that’s a bit different from the sports we often see is really cool.”

“The fact that it’s happening in Paris, seeing places we know transformed for sport, that’s also nice.”

Ysée, 20 years old

to franceinfo

The exceptional setting of these Paris Games plays a large part in the collective enthusiasm. “These Games are taking place for the first time truly in the heart of the city centre of an urban area. We saw it in particular with the triathlon, the wonder is total because we are in incredible historical sites”, estimates sociologist and sports historian Eric Monnin, interviewed by franceinfo.

The vice-president of the University of Franche-Comté for Olympism, director of the Centre for University Olympic Studies and Research (Cerou) and Paris 2024 ambassador, sees another reason for the popular fervour: “France has been waiting for the Games for a hundred years. It has been a very long time since France has organised a major universal event, what we call mega-events. The 1998 Football World Cup was the last one organised by the country, notes Eric Monnin. You have to realize that when you organize the Olympic Games, that’s equivalent to 42 world championships held simultaneously. That’s what’s incredible.”

The sociologist also recalls that the very essence of the Olympic Games is to promote sports that are often poorly known to the general public. “There is football, a major sport in France, and yet we don’t talk about it that much. We are going to discover completely new sports that will highlight completely unknown athletes, but who are great athletes and who are sometimes forgotten,” he illustrates. But according to the sociologist, the societal legacy of these Games remains to be evaluated, in particular the effects that this craze will produce on registrations in clubs next fall. To convert, for good, the “Olympix” into real athletes.