The Paralympics Opening Ceremony was held on the Place de la Concorde. While the athletes marched in, a group of life-sized Phryges played games (think catch and red light, green light) at the center of the square. We only saw that later in phone videos made by spectators, as the TV cameras were focused on the athletes.
La Phryge at Paris La Défense Arena
If we could love our Phryges any more than we already did, we would!
Finally, the day I’ve waited for since October is here: our Paraswimming session is on. Like most Games sites, the pool is temporary; the Paris La Défense Arena usually holds concerts and rugby matches. The three pools set up for the Games are already marked to go somewhere else. I think one of them will be reassembled in Toulouse later.
Warm-up at the Paralympics is just as chaotic as it is at my meets.
My choice of session proves lucky: We have a race with two French brothers, and another with Brazilian star Gabrielzinho. The warm-up doesn’t look so different from warm-ups at my own swim meets.
The three “coups de baton” open the session. We have a really good view of the pool. It’s all finals, and medal ceremonies are held in between races. One of the details you don’t see on TV: we see a camera man with a camera on his shoulder who keeps having to run the length of the 50m pool to film the swimmers as they arrive to the medal ceremonies held at the other end. At one point he sits down and massages his shoulder.
When the French Portal brothers arrive for their 400m freestyle race, the audience goes nuts. 400m is a mid-distance event, but it’s the longest race of this session. The atmosphere is incredible; we shout ourselves hoarse. Successfully, as Alex and Kylian win the silver and bronze medals. During their medal ceremony, the noise level reaches a new height.
Brazilian paraswim star Gabrielzinho
Gabrielzinho totally steals the show at his race, where he wins gold.
We saw a world record!
Being in the room where it happens is such an incredible experience!
A medal ceremony (flags being raised on one end, the podium on the other).
Canadian paraswimmer Tess Routliffe is interviewed by Canadian media after her silver medal in the 200 medley
We came home from holidays and went back to work. The Olympics were over, but the Games were not. Métro billboards showed athletes alongside the slogan “Games not over”. And they weren’t. The Paralympics were yet to come.
Olympics items were already on sale at the official Paris Games store
While the sites and the athletes’ village were adapted, we took advantage of the lull in visitors and stopped by the official store on the Champs Élysées, scoring limited edition shirts and, of course, the mascot.
The Grand Palais seen from the official Paris Games store on the Champs Élysées
The very ugly lone skyscraper in Paris, the Montparnasse Tower, was decorated with the effigy of Léon Marchand, France’s Olympic hero.
The Cauldron was still in the Tuileries, the flame extinguished, awaiting the second Opening Ceremony.
Paris Porte de Versailles fairgrounds were rebranded as Arena Paris Sud
Friday came along, and I was far too early at Arena Paris Sud. The tram stop in front of the site was closed and you had to get off either at the one before or the one after, but again, pink signs and friendly volunteers were everywhere. Arena Paris Sud is the Paris fairgrounds, which I’m very familiar with due to it hosting the International Agricultural Fair every February. For Paris 2024, it hosted table tennis (featuring the French brothers Alexis and Félix Lebrun), handball, weightlifting, and volleyball. As I arrived, a big crowd of spectators left the grounds, apparently a handball match had just ended.
Left for handball and weightlifting, right for table tennis. (Volleyball is behind you.)
There were strict controls, not only of tickets but also of bottles. You had to take a sip from your bottle if it was full, but you could bring an empty one like I did and fill it up on the premises. Once inside, there was volleyball-themed entertainment for the visitors, and you could watch the two teams warm up. In my case, it was the favored Brazilian team against the outsiders from Egypt in a pool game that wasn’t shown on any of the French tv channels.
The Egyptian team warming up in Hall 1
Once we were seated, pre-game animations included an overview of the rules, and cues for us to encourage the players.
Warm-up in the arena
There was music too (“Walk like an Egyptian”), and during the national anthems, Brazilians outnumbered Egyptians among the spectators.
Even more important, there were the “trois coups de bâton”. This is a tradition from French theater, thumbing a staff three times on the floor to open the session. In more prestigious sessions, notables, celebrities, retired athletes, would give the signal. In my pool match, a volunteer did the honors. It still felt special. I was part of the experience, of the Olympic Games.
Unfortunately, the match was over quickly, the Brazilians beat the Egyptians 3:0 in 75 minutes. But my Olympic adventure wasn’t over yet. On the common premises of Arena Paris Sud, not accessible before the match, you could buy souvenirs at the official licensed shop and get your photo taken with the Olympic rings. You joined the line, and when it was your turn, a friendly volunteer would take your phone to snap a dozen pictures. Everyone waited patiently while you installed your kids, no one grumbled.
I’m at the Olympics!
Another volunteer sat in an umpire seat (think of a tennis match) and directed traffic, aka the various spectators ambling around after their sessions.
So much love for the volunteers! That guy in the umpire chair made some fun announcements.
Two ladies were in the line ahead of me, one carrying an umbrella to protect her from the sun. While volunteer 1 took the phones and the ladies went to pose with the rings, volunteer 2 held the umbrella over his colleague’s head.
As we left town for our summer vacation, the second week of the Olympics happened on tv for me. I missed out on cheering the athletes at the Olympic marathon, or the people at the “marathon for all” that followed it; I didn’t see the road cycle race. What I did was stay glued to the screen when Léon Marchand, whose name I’d not heard before, swam to quadruple individual gold, winning two of those in a single day, and topping it off with a team bronze in the relay. How much I wish I’d been able to get tickets for Olympic swimming!
Sorry, I mean the Olympic flame. When the majestic three masted barque Belem carried the torch into the port of Marseille, France was watching.
The BELEM at the Rouen Armada in 2013
The torch relay across France and its overseas possessions was a huge event, including people from all walks of life. (French astronaut Thomas Pesquet carried the torch on Mont Saint Michel in his native Normandy.) Even though this is an Olympic tradition, the relay mixed abled and disabled participants from the start and up to the moment the flame was lit during the Olympic Opening Ceremony.
Olympic Opening Ceremony installation at the Trocadéro
Olympic beach volleyball on the Champ de Mars
The mascots at this point were still badmouthed. Les Phryges (an Olympic and a Paralympic one) were supposed to represent the Phrygian Cap from the French Revolution, but people would compare them to a part of the female anatomy (or, like my husband, to pigeons).
Pont Alexandre III – start and finish of Olympic and Paralympic triathlon
The Seine – triathlon and open-wataer swimming – but will it be clean enough?
Parisians were still upset about the construction and knew that certain new métro lines wouldn’t be finished in time. They were skeptical about the opening ceremony on the river and the Games sites all over town. Oh, and would the Seine finally be clean enough for the open water swimming events?
Throwback to August 2023 when the Seine was barely clean enough to host an open water world cup event
When I went to watch a swimming world cup event that served as dress rehearsal in August 2023, it had to be postponed due to water safety problems.
World Cup open water swimmers in August 2023 (Games dress rehearsal)
Bu the mayor had promised it would be clean in time for the Games, and she would swim in the Seine to prove it.
Still, we were curious and went to have a look at the Olympics Opening Ceremony site at the Trocadéro, Invalides (archery), and the Place de la Concorde (3×3 basketball, breaking, skateboarding, and BMX freestyle).
