After the Paris 2024 Olympics, how can we keep the flame of sport alive? – Independence

2024-08-12 19:18:01

Edited by Alexandra Schwartzbrod

With the end of the Olympics and the start of the Paralympic Games approaching, France is rushing to physical activity. At school or in groups, the authorities must encourage it.

There are those who want to be like Léon Marchand, those who think of themselves as Simone Biles and all the others who try to lead a brother or sister to compose a duo as crazy as that of the Lebrun brothers in front of the ping-pong table- a pong pong The Olympic Games also do this, to make the eyes of children and adults shine, to push the limits, to give dreams. To develop both a sense of discipline and imagination. Will this love, the need to surpass oneself continue beyond the intense adrenaline rush that these Games offer? Now, the figures are all green: the sports shops are reserved, the teams are recording mostly a double-digit increase in registration requests, and there are many fans who, because he is not able to get time for entries for the events of the last two weeks, run to the Paralympic Games where there are also places. So the euphoria should be at least until September 8, the date of the end of Paris 2024.

But then, when the days get shorter and colder, how do we keep the fire alive? Parents and schools are on the front line. Physical education classes should cost a lot more than they do. The same goes for the associative sports sector, which strives to provide activities with short periods of time. Basically, every child or teenager who wants to play should be satisfied, and we should encourage others to play. A lot has been done to improve the abilities and stimulate the desire but still not enough when we know that the sedentary life is the evil of the century. Emmanuel Macron said on Monday, when meeting the organizers of the Olympic Games, that he has not decided “does not reduce the level of commitment, either for the machine or for sports at school”. Chicken! We will monitor the next budget carefully. In any case, it’s good to start training: the next weeks and months promise to be intense… It will be fun.