Paris 2024: What I Really Experienced at the Olympics
An experience that says something about France, Russia… and all of us.
Paris 2024. We'd heard tons of criticism even before the opening: organization, security, transport, budget, logistics, weather… It seemed like some people were eagerly waiting for failure.
And then, when you're actually there — in the stands, in the streets, in the energy of the moment — you discover that reality has nothing to do with the anxiety-inducing headlines.
The Games were magnificent.
Truly magnificent.
And I say this as someone not at all sporty. I've never gotten excited about a 100-meter race, never voluntarily watched pole vaulting, and barely know the rules of fencing. But there, in 2024, I was captivated.
🥇A City Transformed into a Living Stage
What strikes you first is how Paris integrated the competitions into its landscape. For the first time, we saw events taking place on temporary structures, placed like theater stages in the heart of the city:
- beach volleyball sand under the Eiffel Tower,
- fencing events with the Seine as backdrop,
- marathon swimming literally in the Seine — a challenge that's almost a national myth.
It was incredible.
A mix of sport, art, and urbanism.
A city transformed into a giant studio, but without losing its soul.
And there, it's impossible not to recognize French genius: creating spectacle without saying so, being theatrical without admitting it, sublimating the setting without touching it.
🥈The Emotions: What Screens Never Show
I thought I'd come to "see something."
I ended up feeling something.
There are moments when you understand that for some athletes, this evening — this minute — might be the most important of their lives. You feel it physically. The screams, the tears, the trembling, the flags rising like a collective reflex.
I'd never heard so many decibels.
I'd never seen so many positive emotions concentrated in one place.
A Japanese crowd screaming for an Italian gymnast.
Mexicans supporting an Algerian swimmer.
Uzbeks crying for their boxer winning gold (I have a photo, and if you look at it, you'll understand everything).
It's crazy to say, but in that international crowd, you get the impression that, just for those few days, the whole world stops fighting.
🥉And for a Russian? It's Both Beautiful… and Painful.
Seeing these Games so successful gave me immense joy.
But also unexpected sadness.
Because almost no Russian athletes were there.
Only a few dozen, under neutral status.
Meanwhile, almost all other nations — including North Korea — were present.
For a Russian, this moment leaves a bitter taste.
You realize something has broken in our world, and not just at the government level.
Because an event meant to bring humanity together now leaves certain peoples aside.
It's a brutal reminder:
it's not peoples who hate each other, it's political systems that clash.
🎭The Opening Ceremony: France, True to Itself
You can say what you want:
the French have long been artists… and iconoclasts.
Looking for puritanism in them is like looking for a secret beach in the middle of Châtelet metro: mission impossible.
The opening ceremony proved it again:
creative, provocative, theatrical, a bit weird — therefore perfectly French.
And that famous Seine swim?
A crazy challenge, but symbolic.
An act of national pride, a way of saying:
"Paris is not a museum, it's a living city. And living means: imperfect, but courageous."
🔍Propaganda, Reality, and What We Choose to Believe
Before going, I'd read so many criticisms that I expected the worst.
It's always like that: the more political an event is, the more we project our favorite narratives onto it.
The truth?
On site, everything was TOP.
Organization, atmosphere, security, flow — everything.
And that's where we understand something essential:
what we see in the media is always a partial version of the world.
What we experience ourselves is often quite different.
🌍Why I'm Telling All This on Two Nations
Because this Olympic experience reminded me of something important:
beyond crises, tensions, sanctions, and politics, peoples remain capable of understanding each other.
The French and Russians have centuries of connections,
thousands of common stories,
mutual influences that have never completely disappeared.
At Paris 2024, this idea hit me harder than ever.
That's exactly why I launched Two Nations:
a space to reweave a human thread between our cultures,
to understand what one lives, what the other feels,
to share what unites us…
and sometimes what separates us.
In Russian, French, and Portuguese.
Without politics.
Without aggression.
Without clichés.
Just real, sincere, human experiences.
✨And You, What Did You Feel During Paris 2024?
If you were in the stands — or if you followed from afar — I'd be curious to know what you thought of these Games.
Leave a comment.
Let's continue the dialogue.
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