Say thirty-three!
From July 26 to 11 August, the XXXIII Olympic Games of “modern times” will take place in Paris. Exactly a century (1924) after the last ones were held in France, it's been a long time to wait. Less than a year before the next ones... That's a short time to be ready! As is the duration of the events in question, sometimes referred to as “Olympic truces”.
The first ones were long! In 1924, the Games kicked off in mid-May, as reported in the May 23 edition of Sport Universel Illustré (No. 1108), and ended on July 27, as reported in the August 8 edition (No. 1119) in a conclusion by R. Lerou, a general sports journalist. Lerou, a general sports journalist who exceptionally covered them for the weekly, except for polo and equestrian sports, where the publication's patent specialists, Lansmartre and Florimond respectively, quite logically cracked down: “It's a pity that the VIII Olympic Games lasted a week too long. They ended in a general weariness that had finally spread to officials, spectators and athletes. Eight days less and we'd have ended on a high note!”.
On the other hand, for the equestrian sports where polo is no longer present, namely dressage, jumping showand eventing, the ones we are looking forward to next summer will be the shortest in history.With the removal of the rest day (for business reasons!), usually scheduled for the Monday after the eventing final, the deal will be completed in eleven days!
Once again, who could doubt that everything has speeded up in the space of a century? Certainly not Hartmut Rosa in his essay Aliénation et accélération: vers une théorie critique de la modernité tardive (La Découverte, 2012 - 152 pages) in which he examines the causes and effects of the so-called “race to progress”. Could sport, and sportsmen and women, escape the rule?
X.L.
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