The Olympic Games and the French Press — gimme medals!

I don’t know about other countries press coverage and, to be honest, I barely follow the news about the Olympic Games but it’s really saddening to hear our journalists constantly, and I mean constantly, obsessing over the number of medals France is winning.

Listening to them feels like listening to accountants talking balance sheets.

They barely talk sports or the athlete’s prowess. That is unless they set a new record of some sort, winning a new medal. Then, it’s all Amazing and History happening under our own eyes.

I know I’m naive here but is it really what the Olympic spirit is supposed to be all about? Winning medals?

I remember something quite different: ‘The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

Obviously, that guy was as naive as I am.

What is wrong with us? Is this really the (sport) press we deserve?

Citius, Altius, Fortius – Communiter.


A wonderful sketch — medal-worthy, we can all agree— of the Paris 2024 gold medal, by yours truly.

Published: 2024/08/04