EXCLUSIVE SURVEY. In a YouGov survey carried out for Linternaute.com, the French decided between the giants of French sport and designated their standard bearer for the Paris 2024 Olympics. With a very clear result…
A few months before the start of Paris 2024 Olympic Games, several questions remain unanswered and one of them concerns the very prestigious role of the standard bearer of the French delegation, the athlete who will lead the French team during the opening ceremony on July 26. In an exclusive survey carried out by our partner YouGov on a sample of 1030 people representative of the French population (18+) between March 1 and 4, 2024*, it is Teddy Riner which wins the support of the public with a very clear result: more than a quarter of those surveyed (27.4%) would like to see him at the head of the French delegation. A new plebiscite for the judoka with an impressive track record since he came in first position among both women and men, with 27 and 28% of the votes respectively.
Already flag bearer during the Rio Olympics in 2016, Teddy Riner broke the curse of the flag bearer by being crowned Olympic champion for the second time in his career in the over 100 category kilos. In total, Teddy Riner has won five Olympic medals (gold in 2012 and 2016 and two bronze medals in 2008 and 2021 individually and one more gold with the French team), which makes the colossus of more than 2m, one of the most decorated athletes in the history of the Olympic Games. To this you can add 11 world championship titles.
Kylian Mbappé, the favorite of the 18/24 year olds
As for the last Olympic Games, there will be a woman and a man in front of the French team during the opening ceremony. But male athletes make up the lion’s share in our survey. Just behind Teddy Riner, we find the captain of the French football team, Kylian Mbappé. The world champion recorded 19.18% of the votes of the French people surveyed, but above all received enormous support from the 18/24 year old age group in our survey with 37%, or 4 points more than Teddy Riner in this segment. Be careful, it is obviously necessary to specify that the PSG striker is not certain of participating in the Olympics because he will need the agreement of his future club, but above all it is necessary that Thierry Henry, who is only entitled to three players over 23 years old, selects him.
The South West behind Anthony Dupont !
In third position, we find another star of a team sport: the valiant captain of the French XV during the last Rugby World Cup Antoine Dupont. With 16%, the one who is preparing for the Olympic rugby sevens tournament is clearly considered as standard bearer of the French delegation. Fun detail: if we look in detail at the breakdown of the votes, the South West region largely supported the scrum half. With 26% in this geographic area, he is the second choice behind Teddy Riner. Not really surprising for the native of the Hautes-Pyrénées given the large rugby community in the region. In comparison, only 12% of people in the Paris region voted for Antoine Dupont.
The Stade Toulousain player took on a colossal challenge to realize his Olympic dream by leaving the French XV and joining the French rugby sevens team, the only Olympic discipline in his sport. If for the moment it is not yet 100% guaranteed to participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Antoine Dupont won his first 7-a-side tournament at the end of February with the French team, in Los Angeles.
Clarisse Agbegnenou and Pauline Ferrand Prévot favored among women
Concerning the female athlete elected by the French to become France’s standard bearer, judo is still in the spotlight with a large lead from Clarisse Agbegnenou. If we refer to our survey with YouGov, she received 8.15% of the votes. Already flag bearer at the Tokyo Olympics, the judokate is however not expected to do the double for the Paris Olympics. Our survey, which places many male athletes in the first positions, still places Pauline Férrand Prévot as the second choice for the female standard bearer with 3.31% of the votes ahead of Mélina Robert Michon, Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos or even Allison Pineau.
The cyclist, perhaps less well known than Clarisse Agbegnenou, nevertheless has an impressive track record. Road world champion in 2014, she is above all five-time cross country mountain bike world champion and is applying for a gold medal for the Paris Olympics, a title which she misses after finishing 36th in London, abandoned in Rio and finished 10th in Tokyo.
Huge favorites for gold and a surprise
In our survey, to the question “who do you see winning a gold medal at the Paris Olympics”, Teddy Riner once again placed himself at the top of the hierarchy with 34.41% of the votes. In second and third place in the predictions we find a team sport which usually brings medals: handball. Men collect 20.79% while women are at 17.52%.
More surprising: only 9.9% of French people believe that Léon Marchand will obtain a gold medal at the Olympics compared to 14.1% for example for Florent Manaudou. The already multiple world swimming champion is perhaps not well known enough to the general public and could definitely emerge during these Olympics.
Macron is betting on around fifty medals, less than 5% of French people agree
Gracenote, a sports data provider, which offers predictions by nation before the Paris Olympics, is banking on France 3rd place in the medal table, behind China and the United States. The French athletes would obtain 52 medals, including 27 gold according to statistics. According to our YouGov survey, the French are less optimistic about the total with only 4.87% of those questioned betting on more than 45 medals.
Remember that Emmanuel Macron himself indicated that the objective of 50 medals was “attainable”. According to our study, the majority of French people are betting more on 35 to 45 medals with 42.58% of the votes.
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The French in favor of the opening ceremony on the Seine
The last question in our survey, carried out between March 1 and 4, concerned the opening ceremony. To the question, “to what extent is organizing the opening ceremony on the banks of the Seine in Paris a good idea, or not?”, 27.66% of those questioned estimated that it was is a good idea (yes/rather) compared to 19.76% believing that it is not really a good solution (no/not really). Around 20% of those surveyed also don’t really have an opinion on the matter. The ceremony along the Seine convinces twice as many men as women (20% versus 10% of “Yes, absolutely”) and especially 25-34 year olds (23%) and… residents of Paris region (26% of “Yes, absolutely”).
*All data presented here is from YouGov France, unless otherwise stated. The survey was carried out on 1030 people representative of the French national population aged 18 years and older. The survey was carried out online, on the proprietary YouGov France panel from 1 to 4 March 2024.