Home fans unite at Paris' Club France to celebrate Olympic success

Home fans unite at Paris’ Club France to celebrate Olympic success

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Fans cheer in Club France, an Olympic fan zone, in northern Paris, France, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tom Nouvian)

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The main hall of the Club France, an Olympic fan zone in the La Villette Park, in northern Paris, France, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tom Nouvian)

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Three fans dressed in the color of the French flag, Martin Puyge, left, André Marais, center, and Philippe Bouju, right, in Club France, an Olympic fan zone, in northern Paris, France, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tom Nouvian)

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Banners the color of the French flag hang on the ceiling of the Club France, an Olympic fan zone, in northern Paris, France, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tom Nouvian)

By TOM NOUVIAN

PARIS (AP) — Just like the fans cheering 22-year-old French swimming prodigy Léon Marchand at La Défense Arena in western Paris, Olivier Legris was on his feet and chanting “Allez Léon! Allez Léon! (Go on Léon!)”

But Legris, 29, was nowhere near his idol. Instead, he was standing in front of a giant screen on the lawn of Club France, the largest fan zone in Paris for the Summer Games. Dressed in a Zinedine Zidane soccer jersey and a bucket hat in the colors of the French flag — despite temperatures nearing 100 degrees — he was with thousands of fans, all cheering for Marchand as he powered his way to finish first in the 200-meter butterfly semifinals on Tuesday night.

“That’s my way of joining the competition,” Legris said.

In the north of Paris, the Grande Halle de la Villette, typically an exhibition venue, has been transformed into Club France — a pulsating hub of national pride and celebration. On Tuesday, the French tricolor flag was everywhere, being waved in the hands of fans and painted on their faces.

“I’ve never felt more French,” said Zina Lemiere, a 57-year-old sporting a rooster beanie in the national colors. She has attended soccer matches at the Stade de France and is now watching the competitions at Club France.

The experience was unmistakably French, as for a brief moment the sporting celebrations made way for cultural interludes such as a ballet performance by the Preljocaj company. Outside, fans wearing berets indulged in a game of pétanque on a gravel ground set up by one of the many sponsors, to the sound of an electro remix of Edith Piaf’s classic “La Vie en rose.”

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France has won a total of 18 medals so far and organizers said that more than a million French fans have watched the Olympics from one of the 150 fan zones across the country.

Every night, once the competitions wrap up, the Grande Halle transforms into a nightclub. Medal-winning French athletes often come to the venue to celebrate with their dedicated fans. Wild scenes of celebration following the French rugby sevens team’s gold medal victory went viral on Saturday.

Tuesday’s celebrations did not reach similar decibels. Judo bronze medalist Clarisse Agbegnenou is still involved in the mixed judo competition, and women’s team epee silver medalists Coraline Vitalis, Marie-Florence Candassamy, Alexandra Louis-Marie, and Auriane Mallo-Breton were unable to make it to the stage. The fencing final finished too late for the athletes to reach the venue, the organizers explained to the crowd of disappointed fans.

“We dream of touching the athletes, getting close to their medals,” said Corentin Massa, an 18-year-old fan.

But fans continued to celebrate to the sound of French party classics like “Freed from Desire,” “I Will Survive,” and “Djadja,” all booming loud on the speakers way past midnight.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Olympic Hightlights

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FILE - South Africa’s Jacques Freitag competes in the men’s high jump of the 2004 Olympic Games, in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Friday Aug. 20, 2004. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

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FILE - Ilona Maher of USA is tackled by Sharni Williams of Australia in a semifinal of the Rugby World Cup 7’s championship held in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. The main task for Maher, the breakout social media star on TikTok at the Tokyo Olympics, is winning a medal in Paris. (AP Photo/Halden Krog, File)

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FILE - Jacques Freitag of South Africa waves his national flag after he won the Men’s high jump event at the World Athletics Championships, at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2003. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

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Sammy Sullivan of USA in action during HSBC rugby sevens series in Singapore, on May 4, 2024. The anthem played as Army officer Sammy Sullivan stood to attention and saluted beside her U.S. rugby teammates before a gold-medal game in Hong Kong against Olympic champion New Zealand. No prizes for guessing where her mind may have drifted to: Paris in July. (AP Photo/Suhaimi Abdullah)

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USA Water Polo Women’s Senior National Team attacker Ryann Neushul, left, trains at Long Beach City College Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Long Beach, Calif. Following in the footsteps of two older sisters who won gold with the U.S. women’s water polo team, Ryann Neushul is making her Olympic debut in Paris this summer. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Iranian wrestler Iman Mahdavi, 28, practices at the Lotta Club Seggiano gym, in Pioltello , northern Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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FILE - Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands competes during the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Vienna 2022 men’s semifinal game against Austria at the Red Bull Beach Arena in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Van de Velde, convicted and imprisoned eight years ago for raping an underage girl in England has qualified for the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, File)