2024-08-05 22:02:43
What might Léon Marchand have seen during the few hours he spent at the Club France on Monday August 5? Reluctantly out of his chlorine pool, the swimmer, four-time Olympic champion, took the famous bubbling bath at La Villette, in the den of French ambassadors and supporters.
With dark glasses on his face, he was surrounded by ten strong arms that, around 3 pm, passed the first line of journalists for the start of his “Business trip”. Lead a TV program first, then another. He appeared as a surprise to everyone who discovered him, prepared, in the flesh while he was wandering.
When you enter the glass studio of Franceinfo, installed in the hole of the Grande Halle de La Villette where everyone watches the screening of the tests, a sharp cry rises as quickly as a wall of smartphones. Behind the glass, the swimmer smiled, trying to take his eyes off these eyes. This new situation, “I hit you in the face” he got into the microphone.
Facing the war of phones
The program is on time. The bather takes an electric boat to go from one place to another while avoiding the crowd. Here, a photo break with judoka Clarisse Agbegnenou and triathlete Cassandre Beaugrand. There is a two-story building for TF1. RTL Matinale’s pre-recorded interview with the swimmer before disappearing behind a curtain of cameras and journalists for a nine-minute news conference. Each time, the questions and answers are similar. Two members of the Intervention and Protection Team of the Paris Police District, reserved for the protection of the people, joined the representative who now follows him like a train, from one point to another.
At the back of the Grande Halle, the actors of “Quelle jeux”, the France 2 show hosted by Léa Salamé and Laurent Luyat are on in advance. The audience is already seated. The interview must be recorded under live conditions. But suddenly the spectators came back down without seeing the swimmer. You skip the show – many conditions to fulfill, not fully lit by the plan.
Twice, it was finally presented to the general public. First on a stage outside, where, along with the dodger, a garden of blue, white and red flags has grown. Next to him are other medalists of the French swimming team. He is not the most windy. “I’m very reserved, I’d rather be at home with my parents than on a stage in front of 15,000 people,” he confided later. He doesn’t need to do more than the “perfect” (a little light, hands in the air) suggested. Citizens only have his first name on their lips. “It’s awesome, it makes the Games magical”, pay for the new star of French sport.
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