They are in the majority, that of the 72% of French people who support the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP) in Paris 2024. But but… they are never happy, these French men and women. We find some who have scruples, a little shame, even who change their mind. It must be said that in recent months, the JOPs have not done everything to make themselves popular. There was the work, its cost and then the affair of the Aubervilliers allotments. There were the SDF who are moved to other regions to make room, the same for certain students in their room at Crous. There were the booksellers Please look elsewhere for a few weeks. There is the price of tickets. The exceptional security laws that we are already planning to extend beyond the event… The list is not exhaustive.
The constraints seem enormous for a party which will perhaps not be as popular as announced. In the appeal launched by 20 minutes A few weeks ago, it was the environmental cost and the price of tickets that came up the most for those who were disillusioned.
A former high-level athlete who participated in major international competitions, Stéphane believes “that it is only idiots who do not change their minds: I no longer support this type of mega event which is extremely impactful for our planet. » “I’m not against it, but I’m ashamed when I see the difficulties that a majority of French people encounter with inflation,” Michèle tells us. “Initially very happy to be able to make this experience for our children, aged 10 and 7 in 2024, we were disappointed by the prices and the organizational arrangements for ticketing,” explains Coralie, who nevertheless says she lives well. For her, the JOPs will ultimately be in front of the TV.
Unpopular opinion ?
The fundamental question is that of a conflict of values: I love sport, or above all I love the Olympics, what they represent, but I am not comfortable with what it represents. happens. Put another way ? I want to enjoy it, but I’m left-wing and slightly annoyed at the edges by the situation. Valentin Socha opened up about it some time ago on social networks: “It’s becoming more and more of a”unpopular opinion” to sincerely love the Games but when you see that, you can understand why. It’s frankly unpleasant, this aftertaste of compromise…” he posted on Twitter in reaction to the Crous’s request to some of its students to clear their path for the event.
For this 29-year-old graphic designer, the Olympic Games “are first and foremost a childhood TV memory”. Valentin talks about “the crazy contrast between a very concentrated event and the fact that a lot is happening. Even as a kid, we feel what an achievement is, a record, the enthusiasm of the media.” Today, he says he “adheres to the values of the Games, their history, the rituals, the ceremonies, as well as the performances”. It also speaks to Benjamin Tubiana, “not a sports fan at all” but for whom “the Olympics are summer, they’re vacations at my grandmother’s.” Since then, it has been the only sporting event he has attended. This communications manager for a 37-year-old association “has always been fascinated by the Olympics, especially the aesthetic aspect around them”.
Disenchantment
When in 2017 Paris is definitively designated for the 2024 edition, obviously this is good news. “I’m not very chauvinistic, but I had enthusiasm and curiosity at the idea of being able to experience or observe this event in Paris,” describes Benjamin. Like Valentin, he was also eager to see what the country would do with these Games: “I immediately asked myself what Games we wanted to hold in Paris, something that brings us together, what image we wanted to give of France? I found the basic premise of the Games in the city to be exemplary. »
So obviously, when it comes to cutting back on the shared gardens of Aubervilliers for the construction of the sites, the promise takes a hit. More recently, it is the security laws in the run-up to the Olympics that particularly worries him. “After Beijing where we forcibly displaced people, or Athens where we spent crazy amounts of money to build things that are useless, I told myself that in France we would make more intelligent choices. Ultimately, it’s a cold shower to see that we’re not doing better,” judges Benjamin.
People on the left who are very pissed off
We will understand that we are talking to people concerned by both social and environmental problems, and who find it difficult to deal with this with their passion for an event whose externalities seem, until now in any case, to be damn negative. In this respect, we also find some politicians, like Manon Aubry. The rebellious MEP is a real sportswoman, plays water polo, she even played in the first national division.
When she was younger, she studied swimming before moving on to triathlon. Last but not least, she is the type to point out to you that her bike does not have an electric motor. The stage is set: for the 2024 Olympics, she will spend her two weeks in front of her TV or nearby. Except that she is in a party that is not really pro-JO. In the 2020 municipal elections in Paris, the party’s candidate, Danielle Simonnet, campaigned squarely against it.
Naivety and betrayal
Manon Aubry is also in an internal conflict between the ecological and financial cost, the place of sponsors, the price of tickets… But nevertheless refuses to oppose these negative sides to “the great popular celebration” that the Olympic Games can be. “I would have liked the organizing committee to come with a political strategy around popular sport. Because it’s a fantastic tool for social diversity! » The MEP gives the example of swimming pools to develop the practice of swimming, particularly in Seine-Saint-Denis, where one child in two does not know how to swim. Certainly, the Olympic swimming pool in Saint-Denis, the main legacy of the JOPs in the region, will be used for schools after 2024. But in a department of 1.6 million inhabitants, that remains light.
Overall, we feel among the people interviewed a feeling of exclusion, of dispossession: “This thing that I wanted to observe, I finally tell myself that it is not at all for me even though it is happening at home,” describes Benjamin. I really feel like we’re just going to take our city and give it and its amenities to other people for a few months. But Paris is not just a setting, it is a city with inhabitants, citizens inside. » “Bitterness, sadness, naivety”, for Valentin who had also underestimated the negative externalities. “I feel betrayed by the promise and the spirit of the Games, at least from what I was told about them and what I understood about them. »
What will all these beautiful people be doing on July 26, 2024? They will be there, regardless. By “clinging to the idea that I am going to experience an event that I will probably never experience again in my life”, explains Valentin, who wants “to experience it to the fullest, to make as many memories as possible”. Benjamin, less enthusiastic, is waiting to see, in any case he will be at home, in the near Paris suburbs: “A lot of friends tell me they are going to leave but not me. I still want to try to get places, even for small things. But I wouldn’t spend 150 euros to go see badminton series! »
Manon Aubry will go to see water polo matches with her club: “We bought some in packs, and we have a social price between us… These prices are not normal. And again, we are water polo lovers. But for others, it’s 60 euros to actually see splashes in a swimming pool! »