The Champs-Élysées were transformed into a huge party this Saturday, September 14, to celebrate the athletes of the French team after the unforgettable success of the Paris Games. The athletes began their parade in the middle of the afternoon and went up the Parisian avenue in front of a French public who came once again in large numbers to extend the party, before a giant concert organized in front of the Arc de Triomphe.
There were no fewer than 300 Olympians and Paralympians, joined by nearly 10,000 volunteers, artisans and public officials of the Olympic Games, present this Saturday on the Champs-Élysées to celebrate the Paris Games and commune one last time with the French public during a grand parade.
Standing behind the barriers, under heavy police surveillance, 70,000 spectators came to cheer once again the athletes of the French team, blue-white-red makeup on their cheeks, flags in their hands and for some Phryges – the mascot of the Paris Games – on their heads. We want to experience the Games one last time “, explained to AFP Sarah Lacampagne, a 31-year-old teacher who volunteered during the event. In the middle of the afternoon, the parade started under the sun with a blue, white and red fireworks display around the Arc de Triomphe, like the one that marked the start of the show of the opening ceremony on the Seine on July 26.
Athletes decorated on the Place de l’Étoile
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