This Wednesday, April 17, 2024 was day D-100 before the Paris Olympic Games. The anticipation is growing for all athletes and sports fans around the world. The pressure is particular for the French delegation, which will have the weight of being at home. Some of them gathered on Wednesday at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris, to get in tune and mark the occasion of these J-100s…
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Ready and determined to live these Olympic Games to the fullest at home. This, in a few words, is the state of mind of the hundred athletes from the French delegation present this Wednesday at the Grand Palais Éphémère, in Paris, to celebrate D-100 before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
If there was pressure, it was well hidden behind the smiles and enthusiasm of all those who came to take part in the interview game. What was clearly visible, on the contrary, was the great unity within this French Olympic team.
A united delegation where even the new kids feel good. “I’m like a child!” » marvels Danis Civil, aka b-boy DannyDan, 35-year-old breaker. His discipline, breaking, will make its Olympic debut this summer in Paris. “ I can only enjoy being among these great athletes. I find myself in them. It’s like a big family. We represent the same flag, it’s an honor for me to be part of this French team. »
Share the pressure…
A very large family since on July 5, the day when we will know the composition of the entire French delegation then in full for the Olympic Games, it should include more than 500 athletes.
Read alsoParis 2024: on D-100, between satisfactions, questions and concerns, what remains to be done?
Being well surrounded when the pressure is greatest is very important for Estelle Mossely. The Olympic boxing champion in Rio in 2016 practices an individual sport, but relies heavily on the strength of the collective to seek moral support.
“ I feel like I can handle pressure better because I would be part of a team », Explains the 31-year-old boxer. “ I could share this with athletes who have the same goal as me, who will have suffered as much as me in training. All this dissipates some of the stress we might have.. »
…and cultivate team spirit
Sharing the pressure is good. Sharing successes is even better. In this sense, the French National Olympic and Paralympic Committees have developed a mobile application which allows the athletes of the delegation to follow the results of their compatriots. With the aim of creating a real team spirit. An initiative that delights Yannick Borel, the Olympic team champion swordsman in Rio in 2016.
“ I am one of the first supporters of the France team, that’s clear! I try to follow a little bit of all the sports. It’s interesting to see what others are doing. At the Games, once my competition was over, I would try to go to the other events to follow my teammates as much as possible. »
Team spirit is sometimes cultivated in unusual places. According to several French athletes, the place where exchanges between disciplines are the richest is… the physiotherapist room in the Olympic village.