2 months on, a Summer Olympics high turns into winter blues for Paris

Swimmer Florent Manaudou is feeling glum, French MPs despair over a plummeting sports budget and the Eiffel Tower has lost its Olympic rings. Two months after the flame went out on the glittering Paris Olympics and Paralympics, the French capital is in the grip of a bout of post-Games blues. Swimming superstar Leon Marchand, a four-time gold medallist, continues to impress in pools around the world, but for his teammate Manaudou, the return to everyday life has proved difficult.

The 33-year-old was the first torch bearer on French soil when the Olympic flame arrived in Marseille in April and won two bronze medals in the pool in Paris – but he wants to move on. “It’s been very complicated emotionally since the end of the Games,” he said. “Everyone keeps plunging me back in.



I don’t blame anyone, it’s completely normal but I want to move forward. I don’t want to be stuck in August 2024 for months and months.” In the capital, the dismantling of the temporary Olympic venues is almost complete.

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