PARIS — Lighting the Olympic cauldron symbolically opened these Games — and, as much as possible, might have also taken a torch to some awful pandemic memories.
“It has been one of the biggest global events we’ve had since Covid, so it’s definitely a celebration on that front,” said Olympic visitor Arial Su, 32, a Taiwanese native who lives in London.
The past two Games were staged in bubbles in and around Beijing and Tokyo as Covid was still a factor. And while some athletes have tested positive for Covid during the Paris Games, they have not upended competition.
And while fans were appreciative of the Chinese and Japanese efforts to stage the Games in the safest way possible, they said nothing beats actual human contact.
Inside Casa Brasil, one of the Olympics enclaves in the north of Paris, people of all nationalities were drinking small, 7-euro tins of beer with a wedge of lime, and dancing to traditional samba music.
“It’s so amazing that there’s a place where we can all come together and celebrate life,” said Keylle Fabrino, 38, a volleyball coach, who is originally from Brazil but now lives in France. “They did a great job in Tokyo, but this is on a different level.”
And Parisians — known for nonstop complaints about government services, tourists and just about anything else that could be beefed over — might be confused wondering why corners of their mouths have been angling up lately.
“It’s been an amazing time, amazing time,” said 22-year-old data analyst Selma Attie, who has attended soccer, archery, tennis, badminton and triathlon events so far during these Olympics. “This has been a very nice and historical time as well for French people and Parisians.”
The shift to wide-open games from bubble Olympics has also proven to be better television.
NBC has enjoyed a ratings bonanza this past week and a half with Americans grabbing their remote controls and clicking Olympics content. The network has also benefited from a more friendly time zone, with France just six to nine hours ahead of American viewers. (NBC News is a division of NBCUniversal, which owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032.)
It’s not ideal but worlds better than overnight time-zone drags that were unavoidable for Beijing and Tokyo.
“Clearly, the Olympics are back,” Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Universal Media Group, said last week.
French fans have been wildly cheering for their athletes and team throughout these Games — so much so, that even Americans have taken notice.
All-time swimming great Katie Ledecky, who at 27 is probably in the second half of her career, has said she intends to keep competing through at least the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
But if there were any doubts about it, they’ve been wiped away by French fans who have blown the roof off Paris La Défense Arena in support of Léon Marchand and his teammates.
“Just seeing the kind of support that the French athletes are getting here, I think all the U.S. athletes are thinking about how cool that could be in Los Angeles,” Ledecky said, “having the home crowd so that would be amazing to be able to compete there.”
The electricity at La Défense has surely planted a seed in the minds of swimming veterans and hopefuls alike, with the 2028 Games set for what could be a mind-blowing experience at the NFL’s SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
The most recent U.S. swimming trials, staged inside Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, got rave reviews.
“Thinking about an L.A. Games, that is so appealing especially when you see how the French fans were treating their French athletes,” nine-time U.S. medalist Ryan Murphy said.
“Just trying to project what that would be like in L.A. with a venue twice this size, that’s something that’s really, really appealing. So I’ll definitely work right to left, I do think I want to try make a push for L.A.”
Perhaps the liveliest scene of the Olympics has been at La Concorde, an expanse that's played host to several sports and neighbors the Grand Palais, Eiffel Tower, Champs-Elysées, Arc de Triomphe and Notre-Dame Cathedral.
It's been a musical festival-esque vibe there with fans floating between events and toasting the Paris summer in a manner that wouldn't have happened in 2020 and 2021.
"I think 3-on-3 has probably been the best," said American 3x3 basketball player Dearica Hamby, who won her bronze at La Concorde. "This environment has been really fan-driven ... and been more intimate which I appreciate."
