According to experts, the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games changed the history of Spanish sport. The government allocated a large part of the tickets to children and young people from Catalan schools who fell in love with the different disciplines they saw.
The games were widely covered by state media, with educational information on each sport, its regulations, history, and main figures. All the events of the local athletes and a good part of the finals were also broadcast.
The results of this commitment were evident in the first two decades of this century, in which Spanish sport reached the top of the world, both in individual and team sports, with figures such as Rafael Nadal, Alberto Contador, Fernando Alonso, Pau Gasol, Marc Márquez, and the football, basketball, and handball teams.
The success that France wants to repeat with the Paris 2024 Olympics
Although France has a long-standing sporting culture, it decided to replicate the Barcelona model at the Paris Olympics. The games’ organizing committee initially tried to involve the entire city in the event, so it did not propose having a large Olympic Park but rather set up different venues throughout the metropolitan area.
He distributed 400,000 tickets to primary and secondary school students so that they could bring a family member to the events. He offered them 30% of the tickets for preliminary competitions for less than 50 euros. The other 30%, which cost up to 100 euros, were given priority. Another 30% of the tickets cost between 100 and 1,500 euros, and the remaining 10% were hospitality packages worth thousands of euros, which are usually handled by the International Olympic Committee and its sponsoring firms.
National television broadcasts many competitions live, especially the French competitions, and in the evenings it provides a summary of the best performances and invites local medalists to tell about their exploits.
Results are always the most important thing.
In any case, to make a real impact, the key is to win and achieve beneficial results. And that is what the French delegation, made up of 571 athletes, has accomplished. To date, they have won 13 gold medals, 16 silver medals, and 19 bronze medals, improving their performance in the last six editions of the Olympics. They are just two titles away from surpassing the 14 won in Atlanta in 1996.
France has achieved these 48 podiums in 17 different disciplines, including its three Olympic disciplines par excellence: judo, swimming, and fencing. In judo, the star is Teddy Riner, a three-time Olympic champion in the over 100 kg category. In swimming, there is the new phenomenon of the pools: Léon Marchand, who won four golds and a bronze in Paris 2024. And in fencing, the successes were led by the beautiful Manon Apithy-Brunet in sabre.
They have been the most outstanding local athletes, but they are not the only ones who have generated enthusiasm among the fans. Felix Lebrun, for example, won the bronze medal in table tennis but became one of the French favorites at the Olympics, as did his brother Alexis, who reached the quarterfinals in the same discipline. Also highly celebrated were the first, second, and third Frenchmen on the podium in men’s BMX, with Joris Daudet, Sylvain Andre, and Romain Mahieu, in a race in which Colombian Mateo Carmona finished sixth.
“Allez les bleus, allez les bleus” (Let’s go, the blues) is the cry heard on all the Parisian stages to show support for French athletes. In the stands of all the stadiums, the blue, white, and red flags never stop waving, whether or not there are French athletes present.
Despite their dislike of tourists, Parisians are more friendly than usual. However, “most of them left; we are the friendly ones left,” explains Lauren Boniface, a volunteer who works for the organization of the Olympic Games, who feels that although “we spent two years under construction and now there are many road closures and mobility problems, we are proud of the celebration that is taking place in our city.”
In addition to all this, there was no security problem except for a small incident prior to the opening of the Games, involving an attack on the electrical network of a train line. France has organized some historic games, although the true fruits of this will only be seen in the future.
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