The Paris Olympics seen from the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland

Two months, to the day, before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Switzerland too we will closely follow the events. On the shores of Lake Geneva, Lausanne is home to the only Olympic museum in the world, as this Frenchman, responsible for the museum’s communications, explains.

In Lausanne, the Olympic spirit is everywhere. Since 1915, the city has been the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee. At the time, Baron Pierre de Coubertin had chosen the shores of Lake Geneva to install the leaders of the IOC. Originally from Roanne, Frenchman Pierre-Adrien Lagrange is responsible for communications at the Olympic museum in Lausanne, nearby.

“It was the First World War and he was looking for a country where he could continue to develop the movement, without having to undergo political pressure from this or that country, because of the war, he recalls. And he had liked Lausanne for a while now. That’s how it was decided actually.”

The city also hosts around sixty international sports federations and organizations. Lausanne’s status as Olympic capital was reinforced by the hosting, in January 2020, of the Winter Youth Olympic Games. The Olympic Museum celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. The place offers a permanent exhibition on three levels and 3,200 m2.

“Othere are medals, details the French, opening ceremony costumes, and also a lot of athletes’ objects: Jesse Owens’ shoes, Usain Bolt’s jersey, the jersey of the French handball players from Tokyo. We find a lot of things that make those who love sport and the history around sport dream.”

The museum is preparing to welcome more than 300,000 visitors this year. With the Paris 2024 Games, it receives many French classes from the Alpine regions neighboring Switzerland.

“The museum guides are trained to speak to a young audience, he explains, to help them discover Olympic objects and history through all the exhibitions we have. A primary school teacher in Paris can send us an email and ask us for all the documents we have in our possession, activities, projects to do and cultural elements to be able to offer and create. Our mediation team is working on this.”

As for Swiss society, he who has lived there for nine years, Pierre-Adrien Lagrange notes that the Swiss public is less expansive than in France :

“You have a lot of clubs in Switzerland, a lot of ski resorts, a lot of international events, but the fervor is not the same compared to what we see in France. In France, we are very chauvinistic, very intense, very strong on our athletes, in Switzerland, we feel a little restraint compared to what we can experience in France.”

Lausanne was promoted to Olympic Capital in 1994. The city of Lausanne is celebrating 30 years of this unique status in the world this year with a multitude of festive, sporting and cultural events scheduled for next month, including the inauguration of the Olympic cauldron. , legacy of the Youth Olympic Games in 2020, in the presence of IOC President Thomas Bach.

Find this column on the site, the app and in the international mobility magazine “Français à l’enseignement.fr”