The captivating Paris Olympics...

They’re here again! That festival of sporting excellence that is the Olympic Games, as for the past fortnight, Paris, France has delivered what we want from our athletes, with excellence, mediocrity, madness, joy, and despair, all on show. It is performance, pathos, and for a few, the pinnacle of their sporting careers.

It is particularly appropriate that this sporting extravaganza is ‘at home’ in France, given that it was a Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, acknowledged as the ‘Father of the Modern Olympics,’ who fashioned sports in a way that made it for all men and women, exactly 100 years ago, in 1924. His vision was for a games to find the best of the best in all sports, and his motto of the day was ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius,’ or in English “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” ‘borrowed’ from a colleague, Father Henri Louis Didon.

Didon had himself organised sports and community events since 1891, in the town of Arcueil, with de Coubertin as his assistant, however it was the latter’s global vision that was to bring the Olympics as we know them today, to pass. That first Olympic village, in Colombe, north of Paris, was a collection of temporary huts, with catering halls, shower blocks, and services such as post offices, shops, hairdressers, banks, and much more.

A 1924 map shows how, from the rowing at the Basin de Argenteuil in the North, to the equestrian events in the South-West at the Stand de Versailles and Saint Cloud Polo Fields, across to the Velodrome Municipal cycling venue in the East, while the athletics and ceremonial centrepiece was the Stade de Colombe, with capacity for 45,000 spectators. Notably, as the Stade Olympique Yves-de-Manoir, that venue is hosting the field hockey a century later.

Athletes from 44 countries, from as far away as New Zealand, whose four athletes won just one bronze medal, competed, among the others, the great Paavo Nurmi, the ‘Flying Finn,’ who won the 1500m, the 5000m, and the 3000m cross-country, now known as the steeplechase. Johnny Weismuller, who was subsequently to star in the movie ‘Tarzan,’ won three swimming golds, and another in Water polo. If you have seen the film ‘Chariots of Fire,’ about the British runners Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddle, the 100m and 400m runners, yes, that all took place in Paris 1924. France meanwhile had its own ‘star’ of the games, as swordsman Roger Ducret feinted, lunged, and riposted his way to three gold medals. Clearly, he was a cut above his opponents.

The great miracle of these games was not the athletes, or the events, but how the spectators became a force for progress, as the games prior to 1924 had been very much ‘athletes only’ events. Yet, here they were, in and around Paris, caught up in the need to escape the horrors of the Great War of 1914-18, needing to see the best that man could do, after four horrific years of seeing the worst.

In de Coubertin’s eyes, a passport to riches, even though ‘his’ games cost France around £4 million. He had seen that the spectators would pay, the media would pay, and as much as each sport would have its undoubted champion, sports itself would have its absolute pinnacle.

So, what of 2024? Well, the opening ceremonies were disappointing. While paying homage to the French history and culture, as a century of the Olympics do, the organiser’s insistence upon promoting lifestyle diversity went ‘way over the top’ and has drawn a chorus of ‘critique.’ I’ll say no more!

Performance wise, there has been controversy in the boxing ring with Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting, entertainer Snoop Dog a ubiquitous presence, a ‘twerk’ by OnlyFans star and pole-vaulter, Canada’s Alysha Newman, Covid impacted Noah Lyles bid to win the 100m, 200m double, and GB’s Tom Pidcock won the Mountain Bike gold after crashing at halfway. It’s all ‘kickin’ off! Mostly in a good way.

Add in wall-climbing, break-dancing, and BMX racing, and with Parisian joi de vivre the Olympics are alive, different and diverse, yet... the same exciting, for sporty types, to couch potatoes... un paradis.