France’s quest for Olympic Games glory will be swept along by a tide of patriotism and fervour if last night’s Rugby Sevens are to judge by.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe atmosphere at the Stade de France for their quarter-final against Argentina was on a scale I have seldom witnessed in my long career reporting on major sporting events.
The nearest I can recall is the in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and the groundswell of home support for home favourite Cathy Freeman when the athlete ran the 400m.
We also saw it with support in London 2012 for our home athletes, but perhaps not on the same level of decibels as in the Stade de France.
Last night’s electric atmosphere certainly had Martin Lipton, from The Sun and a veteran like myself, in awe.
He regaled me of his previous visits to the stadium for Six Nations matches, but the noise was never as loud.
A packed stadium witnessed France proceed to the semi-finals after a pulsating match.
France, 21-0 ahead at half-time, looked home and dry until the Pumas staged a stirring fightback to reduce the deficit to 21-14.
The outcome was suddenly in the balance until Antoine Dupont, a French sporting icon, scored a try in the dying seconds to seal a 26-14 victory for Les Bleus.
The New Zealand v South Africa semi-final was an epic as the Springbok emerged 14-7 victors.
The All Blacks will still be wondering how they lost as they had many chances to score only to be denied by super-human defending by South Africa.
Fiji scored two late tries to come from behind to edge out Ireland 19-15 with the tension almost too much to bear for one female Fiji journalist whose nerves were torn to shreds.
It is the dawn of another day and a murky, damp and overcast one for the opening ceremony on the River Seine – the first not to be staged in a stadium.
It is a logistical nightmare for the Franch with the banks of the Seine cordoned off and out of bounds to tourists as providing security for such an outdoor event is problematic.
I have been lucky to be allocated a ticket but wish me luck as you have to be in place almost three hours before the flotilla sets sails down one of the world’s great rivers. It is not going to be much fun hanging around in the open for much of the day if the weather forecast proves correct with rain forecast – sod’s law as the last two days have been hot and sunny.
I have had to have a special sticker placed on my accreditation lanyard, receive an e-ticket which also has to be produced as well as my passport to gain entry.
Wish me luck.