Olympic fever hits France following tense build-up

IMAGE: Swimming Gold medallist Leon Marchand of France celebrates on the podium. File Photograph: Evgenia Novozhenina

Stadiums are packed. Crowds are going wild, chanting, applauding, supporting the home team. And the French also tune in by the millions to watch the Games on TV. After months of doom and gloom, Olympic fever has caught on in France.

"My God. It's crazy," Manon Apithy-Brunet said of the fan support after winning gold in the women's sabre individual competition at the Grand Palais, in the heart of Paris.

"I was like, 'OK, take it in, because it's crazy. Just enjoy'," she said after a spontaneous rendition of La Marseillaise, the national anthem, broke out among the crowd.

There had been few signs of enthusiasm over recent months, when concerns were rife among the French over whether Paris, and the whole country, would be ready for the Games.

In the French capital, complaining about security risks and Olympics-related construction work while talking about leaving the city for the Games were much more common than enthusiasm for the event, Parisians say.

An uncertain political background and an inconclusive parliamentary election did not help.

But after a daring open ceremony on the Seine river went ahead without a glitch, despite pouring rain and some controversy in Catholic and right-wing circles, and as French athletes started collecting medal after medal, the mood has lifted.

"Everything is better since the opening ceremony," 42-year-old make-up artist Elodie Gintte said as she watched the Olympic cauldron. "Of course the French grumbled a lot before, but it's normal that the French complain!"

Also watching the unusual Olympic cauldron, 27-year-old accountant Ines Barthelemy concurred.

IMAGE: Spectators cheer for Marie Eve Gahie of France during a Judo event at the Paris games. File Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon

"It was all a little tense before the Olympics and now it's better," she said.

"With inflation, the political situation, the elections, it was difficult and tense and there with the (opening) ceremony we had a good time, we could watch it at home, it was for everyone and in Paris, it's rare. And we have French medals every day!"

France is for now third in the Games' medal table with six golds, behind China and Japan who have seven each.

For sure, there have been complaints among athletes about the food or the heat at the Olympic village. Not all tickets have been sold yet and political gloom may well be back once the Games end on Aug. 11.

But in the meantime, the French athletes do enjoy the support - even if it's almost too much at times.

IMAGE: Fans cheer for home team France ahead of the Swimming Medley Relay at the Paris games. File Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne

"I was trying to focus on myself, but it's really hard when 15,000 people are cheering for me," French swimming star Leon Marchand - who also warmly thanked the crowd for its support -said after winning gold in the men's 400m individual medley final at Paris La Defense Arena on Sunday.

Nearly 10 million - or just over one-in-seven French people - watched him win the gold medal on TV.

On Tuesday, despite patches of empty seats in the La Defense Arena as Marchand completed a busy day of heats, home fans roared every time his head emerged from the water in the breaststroke semi-final and "Le-on, Le-on," rang round the arena as he swam the butterfly semis.

After seeing rugby sevens games, Florence Maillard, her cheeks painted in France's blue, white and red tricolour, was enthusiastic.

"Everyone seems happy, it's such a party! Even the police smile! People are getting together, France is beautiful and how good is it, let's stop French-bashing!" she said.

IMAGE: A French fan cheers on as he waves the national flag during a Beach Volleyball game. File Photograph: Aleksandra Szmigiel

Further away, in eastern Paris, Pascal Vicenzi, the owner of the "La Ville de Provins" bar near the Gare de l'Est train station, has sat a giant Paris 2024 mascot in his bar.

"Enthusiasm catches on when the French win. When there is (a good) result, that wipes away controversies," he said.

Twenty-three million tuned in to watch the opening ceremony in France - more than for matches in the Euro 2024 soccer championship.

"It's amazing," Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera told Reuters. "And it's not over."

• THE OLYMPICS, 2024