Dear Francophiles, this world is crazy.
While security tensions are at their peak in Israel, Paris is in euphoria, as if carried by the grace of summer under the seal of the Olympic Games.
Before I begin, it's important for me to know that I had no intention of writing anything about the Paris Olympics or JO (that's what Jeux Olympics is called in France for short).
First, because I am one of many Parisians and French people who did not shower much praise on this event over the long months or even years of preparations, work, traffic disruptions, etc.
I love you. Paris And is content with its natural beauty: majestic, impressive, historical, cultural, avant-garde, surprising, romantic, bold.
Is an event like the Olympics needed to promote tourism in the city?
As you know, of course not! We are the most visited city (and country) in the world, even without the Olympics (40 million in Paris itself, 90 million visitors to France every year for the last 40 years).
And finally, let's be honest, I'm more into things like Museums And long conversations over a glass of good wine are better than sports, competition, ultra-vitamin drinks, and screaming fans in the stadium, even if the sports hall is the Grand Palais itself.
However, no one can really ignore the Olympics. If there is one figure who needs to be mentioned more than anyone else these days, it is Coubertin.
Pierre de Coubertin, the French sportsman
More precisely, Pierre de Coubertin, and even more precisely: Baron Charles Pierre Frederic de Coubertin.
This topic is important to me, because even without particularly liking sports or being interested in them in any way, Coubertin's name resonates well in my mind and in the collective French imagination, as a figure associated with sports. There is no city in France without a stadium, sports center or swimming pool named after Coubertin.
This is interesting, because honestly, we can't say that France is a nation that has sports at its forefront. Pierre de Coubertin was born in 1863 inThe chic and luxurious 7th arrondissement of Paris, to a family of French nobility. Like the great figures who shaped French gastronomy, Coubertin would make team sports mythological.
Pierre de Coubertin entered the great history of France By introducing sports into the French national education program, even before he revived the Olympic Games in the modern era, and the first Olympic Committee in 1894, on which he served until 1925.
He would go so far as to create the famous Olympic Games logo consisting of 5 colored circles.
By observing the social and educational programs he knew in England, he concluded that teaching and practicing sports in school from an early age would contribute to the strength and power of France as a nation. He took his passion for rugby and was inspired by the work of English sociologists such as Thomas Arnold, to design a French-style sports education program.
The defeat inflicted on France by Prussia in 1871 did not leave Baron de Coubertin indifferent. He was convinced that physical effort, training and a competitive spirit were a real asset to the strength of a nation, and he worked throughout the late 19th century to ensure that sport became part of the daily life of the French. It was a no-brainer, especially when you consider the spirit of resistance of the French. Teachers, parents of students, institutions, the church, his family and the royalists – all fiercely opposed the concept.
Coubertin compromises, and joins the newly established Republic, while admitting that only in this way will he achieve his goals. He decides to energize the French nation, strengthen its power, and does not hesitate to set an example by enlisting in the French army at the age of 51 in 1914.
Coubertin embarked on a persuasive campaign, speaking out about the benefits of sport. His attraction to Anglo-Saxon culture led him to become close to the French “Scouts” or “les éclaireurs,” a youth movement inspired by the British Baden-Powell, who was then stationed in South Africa.
The work of the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin is intrinsically linked to sports and the revival of the Olympic Games in the modern era. After World War I, in 1920, he moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, where he raised his disabled child and ended his life. On September 2, 1937, he died of a heart attack in a beautiful park in Lausanne, where he had just received the title of “citizen of the city.”
Thank you again to Mr. de Coubertin, for making possible the re-establishment of France in 2024, 100 years after the summer of 1924, when the first Olympic Games were held in Paris.
Despite skepticism, ridicule, impatience, and controversy of all kinds (including mine😊), Paris chose to hold the games in the city's natural environment and hold competitions in its most beautiful monuments.
The city has been shining since the end of the Olympics, and is about to start again in late August-early September when the Paralympic Games arrive.
A journalist for the Spanish daily El Pais wrote: “Many believe that Paris has set a very high bar, but instead of overshadowing it, I want to believe that thanks to France, the road to Los Angeles is already lit.”
Another journalist said, “It’s easy to be yourself when you’re great” (C’est facile d’être soi-même quand on est formidable)
Vieux la France!
And only good news from Israel.