Ask the French and they will tell you they are not a country of sports lovers.
The next fortnight in Paris will provide emphatic proof to the contrary.
The organisers had promised an Olympic opening ceremony like no other. While the weather did not hold up its end of the bargain, quite the opposite, that promise was kept and then some.
From the moment Zinedine Zidane appeared on the big screen, to the moment Teddy Riner and Marie-José Perec – with three gold medals apiece – lit the Olympic flame, this show was quintessentially French but with an international touch.
Using a 6km stretch of the Seine, the show visited the City of Lights’ most famous landmarks while referencing France ’s cultural legacy in film, literature and innovation.
In all, 85 boats made their way from the Pont d’Austerlitz to the Eiffel Tower, with more than 320,000 spectators watching on from the sidelines.
Lady Gaga and the Minions might have seemed unlikely bedfellows to the dancers of the Moulin Rouge and Les Misérables, but they slotted in perfectly.
A trip through the country’s history turned into a bonkers dance party worthy of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Florent Manaudou, Olympic swimming champion at London 2012, was the flagbearer for the host nation, alongside discus thrower Mélina Robert-Michon.
That came just months after Manaudou had risked the wrath of his compatriots by questioning their love of sport.
In response to President Emmanuel Macron ’s hopes of France finishing in the top five of the medal table, Manaudou said: “I’m going to make enemies but we are not a sports country.
“To prepare for the Olympics , you need to start planning 10-12 years ahead of time. (France) put things in place two years ago.”
In some ways, the younger Manaudou sibling – his sister Laure won a full set of Olympic medals back in Athens – is right.
France was late to get its act together on a sporting level, with investment to secure the best possible return this summer coming much later than London ahead of 2012.
And yet, France will be saved by the fact that it truly is a sporting country.
That is never truer than in team sports, where France has become a force across the board.
In Tokyo, only the USA could top the three golds and six medals brought home by the French in those disciplines.
So far in Paris, the indications are that the return could match or even surpass that. In rugby sevens, the French men, featuring the game’s biggest star, Antoine Dupont, are just two matches away from a gold medal.
Both men’s and women’s football teams have made winning starts and have legitimate ambitions for a place on the podium, while handball and basketball remain as strong as ever. Add volleyball and maybe even water polo and they are medal contenders in nearly everything.
Of course, from a purely strategic perspective, investment in team sport does not provide the same return on the medal table as going all in on cycling or rowing – which Team GB have done to such great effect.
But they do offer moments that arguably live longer in the memory. Cast your mind back to Rio 2016, and the gold medal in women’s hockey will be one of the first images that comes to mind.
France will be hoping for similar over the next fortnight.
Dupont is a prime example of what France has in abundance – star power.
He is unquestionably the most marketable player in the oval ball game, hailing from the south west of the country, like swimmer Léon Marchand, who should be the face of these Games.
Last year, Marchand erased the final world record of the greatest Olympian of all, Michael Phelps, who was among the global stars featured in the opening ceremony.
Others may beat him to the first French gold of these Games, but Marchand has a shot to come away with the most of all, lining up in four different events, and as the world champion in three.
Paris itself has produced further stars with global pulling power. Kylian Mbappé is departing for Real Madrid and did not win his battle to compete in these Games, but the Bondy product is the most recognisable footballer of the post-Messi and Ronaldo era.
In basketball, 7ft4 phenomenon Victor Wembanyama has already been described as the greatest prospect in the history of American team sports, before exceeding expectations in his first year in the NBA.
Demanding he take down LeBron James and Team USA might be a little much, but the man nicknamed the Alien – by James himself – is already doing things that no one thought possible.
While French star power is male-dominated, judoka Clarisse Agbenenou and mountain biker Pauline Ferrand-Prévot are also household names in the country.
Even in a country where school sport is increasingly underappreciated, these superstars could carry the host nation to a top-five finish – matching President Macron’s aspirations.
The Olympics has returned to the place where its modern iteration was conceived by the great Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
On Friday night in the pouring rain, Paris proved it can put on a party.
Now it is up to the country’s biggest stars to honour De Coubertin’s legacy and show that France truly loves its sport as well.
Watch every moment of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 live only on discovery+, the streaming home of the Olympics
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