Discover the newsletter of Figaro dedicated to the Paris Paralympic Games.
Dear readers,
In a concert, the encore is always the best moment. We think it’s the end, but it’s just the sequel. The Paralympic Games and the very danceable closing ceremony extended the party that began on July 26. Or no, rather on May 8 when the flame landed in Marseille aboard the Belem. The arrival of the “famous three-masted ship” in the Old Port, covered with the blue-white-red flag of the Patrouille de France, was the formidable detonator of a summer that “will last six months“, according to the lyrics of Joe Dassin’s now Olympic hit. This September 9 is not a hangover, it is a promise.
The Blues have fulfilled their contract: smashed medal records, emotions galore and the promotion of the disciplines that children rush to during association forums. New stars have emerged: their names are Léon, Ugo, Alex, Aurélie, Marine, Manon… In a column, Jean-Pierre Robin explained that the harvest of French medals was due to Emmanuel Macron’s “whatever it takes”. It is above all an essential investment that goes beyond the framework of professional sport. Thanks to these 44 magical days, sport has demonstrated its strength: it brings people together, inspires, educates, develops, nourishes, rebuilds. France, a literary and intellectual nation par excellence, has perhaps finally understood that it was time to (get) moving. A healthy mind in a healthy body.
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This four-month sequence (May 8 – September 8) allowed France to demonstrate its know-how in terms of organization, innovations (cauldron, horse, marathon for all, torch relay, etc.) and management of imponderables (rain, threat of attack). Stress and glitter. The Paris 2024 trio – Tony Estanguet, Thomas Jolly and Thierry Reboul – was the best “entertainer” in recent years and put France back at the center of the world. Paris, the sleeping beauty, sometimes irascible, woke up in a good mood. The hardest part begins: keeping the spirit of the Games and taking care of their legacy.
«That’s it, it’s over“, sang Jean-Louis Aubert. “Today or tomorrow it’s now or never. Maybe the day after tomorrow I’ll find you again but it’s over, um, it’s over.» Not quite. As in concerts, after the encore there is an “encore”: on September 14, a grand parade of athletes is organized on the Champs-Élysées and in 1971 days, the French Alps will host the Winter Games. A golden decade.
Happy reading,
Florent Barraco
PS. This was the last letter from the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Thank you for your loyalty. But sport doesn’t end there: sign up to the daily newsletter from the editorial staff so as not to miss any of the usual soap operas.
