The Parade of Champions is the joyful daily communal event which encapsulates why Paris has been the People's Olympics, writes IAN HERBERT Those gathered could now say they have seen the great Rebeca Andrade Event attracts 13,000 in the late afternoon in what is known as Champions Park Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix took around 20 selfied with people from the crowd By Ian Herbert Published: 22:38, 10 August 2024 | Updated: 22:38, 10 August 2024 e-mail View comments They were queuing in their thousands around the Trocadero Gardens on Wednesday afternoon, waiting without complaint in the heat of the Avenue de New York and the Palais de Chaillot perimeter, for the chance to be a part of the daily communal event which encapsulates why these have been the People's Olympics . It's called the Parade of Champions, a free, largely unreported part of each Olympic day, which has been drawing capacity crowds of 13,000 in the late afternoon to what is known as Champions Park, set against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower. Most of those gathered on Wednesday in the ticketed seats or the 'pit' beside the walkway had not watched those champions compete, yet will now always be able to speak of how, in the Paris Olympic summer, they actually saw the great Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, France's 3x3 basketball team, and two British divers — Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson — who were clearly having the time of their lives.
The young British pair appeared on a stage above the platform, before experiencing 20 minutes out in front of the crowds which you imagine will always live with them. There was a time when walking down a runway like that, with throngs either side, would entail signing flags and T-shirts but the selfie is the signature of these times. Spendolini-Sirieix took around 20 of them, receiving and returning phones from the crowd with obvious delight, though the 'victory selfies' she took of herself and Toulson, against the backdrop of the Tower, were the ones to cherish.
It's called the Parade of Champions, a free, largely unreported part of each Olympic day, which has been drawing capacity crowds of 13,000 People will now always be able to speak of how, in the Paris Olympic summer, they actually saw the great Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade Andrea Spendolini Sirieix (left) and Lois Tolson (right) appeared on a stage above the platform, before experiencing 20 minutes out in front of the crowds Your browser does not support iframes. 'I'm so grateful for this opportunity,' Spendolini-Sirieix said before heading to join her family for dinner at the Café du Trocadero up the road. 'The cheer from the crowds.
The sheer number of people who came. Blessed is an understatement. Lois and I will cherish these memories for ever.
' These Olympics have reached out from beyond the stadiums like none other, turning this city into a field of lavender purple and pink signage, which you stumble into at the end of the walk along the River Seine from Notre Dame, or while stepping along the gravel tracks near the Grand Palais, where a decisive moment in the Olympic fencing would suddenly almost take the roof off the place. You stumble into the Olympics on street corners, where one of the vast 'Images des Jeux', capturing moments of Olympic history, might be hung. Nadia Comaneci, soaring above her gymnastics beam in the 1976 Montreal Games, at the corner of Rue Saint Honore and Rue des Pyramides.
Raymond Depardon, the photographer who captured the soul of the 1964 Tokyo edition, gazing down on Rue Chanez at Auteuil. No city has made the Olympics quite such an art form. No ticket required.
And yet there is a recognition that the event must transcend location and place, now. The dozens of YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram creators flown into Paris by broadcasters and digital content publishers reflect the urgency of enlivening a generation of viewers with no history of watching the Games. The Financial Times this week cited a clip by internet personality Sandra Kwon, here to create content for US broadcaster NBC, whose one-sentence explanation of the fencing scoring system had been viewed 183,000 times.
An Instagram image of North and South Korean ping-pong players, picturing themselves together after competition, touched the soul. France has been blessed with great heroes. Leon Marchand, the torpedo of the pool whose self-effacement had to be seen to be believed, in the late-night press conferences he gave at the Olympic pool.
And for Britain, a nation currently blighted by the racists who provoke conflict and disorder, there has been Cindy Ngamba, the Bolton boxer fighting for the Refugee Olympic Team who emerged on Friday from the personal devastation of a semi-final middleweight defeat to discuss, among other things, what Britain means to her. 'The UK kept me safe and protected me and I was able to find a hobby that I'm good at,' she said. 'I was able to create a life for myself and create hope for myself.
' The event has been taking place in the late afternoon to what is known as Champions Park, set against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower France has been blessed with great heroes. Leon Marchand in the late-night press conferences he gave at the Olympic pool There has been Cindy Ngamba, the Bolton boxer fighting for the Refugee Olympic Team who emerged on Friday from the personal devastation of a semi-final middleweight defeat Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes.
It's been a Games of the very lightest touch — free of swagger and grand architectural statements; imaginatively employing some of the city's most beautiful places to create a backdrop surpassing that of any other Olympics — rather than build new ones at vast expense. Those conversions have been genius. The pre-competition light shows — another exceptional Parisian innovation — pure gold.
But Champions Park, the people's place, has been the best innovation of all, and there was surely no scene more touching there than the Team GB rower Hannah Scott and Japanese gymnast Takaaki Sugino, both gold medallists, dancing together on the platform at the end of a ceremony. When Scott retweeted the clip, it was former Olympic champion Matthew Pinsent who replied most succinctly. 'Pretty much encapsulates what everyone imagined winning an Olympic gold in Paris would be like, he said.
'Joyful, brilliant stuff.' Share or comment on this article: The Parade of Champions is the joyful daily communal event which encapsulates why Paris has been the People's Olympics, writes IAN HERBERT e-mail Add comment.
