“We had the impression of living the great history of sport from the inside”

If you “we had impression living great thought that the function of volunteer of the 2024 Paris Games had stopped at the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games. Furthermore, on September 8, 2024, think again. Moreover, “It sticks to our skin for the rest these days”explains Amandine Guillaume. 36, teammate in the service of athletes for judo and the struggle, which has preciously kept the tack of a volunteer.

A year later. it is impossible to pass without reacting next to a bag stamped from the Olympic rings at the supermarket, a dark blue and turquoise sailor during an outing “we had impression living great of running or a bob on the beach. In the streets of the capital, in Bordeaux, Lille and even outside the French borders, volunteers are immediately spotted.

« What division?

-Champ-de-Mars, Logistics team. »»

Like veterans, we greet ourselves with a sign of head or a smile. On the chest, a farandole of Pin’s testifies to the service states: “Gazon hockey, South Australia-Africa, I was there. »» Protocol coquetry is not one, as the event has permanently marked these little hands at the heart of the reactor.

“We had the impression of living the great history of sport from the inside. the atmosphere was great”adds Amandine Guillaume. The EPS professor keeps in particular in memory this long discussion with the father of the judoka Teddy Riner. stressed before the individual final of her son.

The discreet. joyful presence of these 45,000 volunteers, a third of which are licensees of sports clubs, early made the darling of the public and athletes: “A year after the Olympic Games, I deeply want to thank the volunteers, they were very caring for us”also noted the five -time Olympic Judo Olympic gold medalist, with the Monde.

Mobilized on competition sites. at the village of athletes, at the media center, on training sites or even in stations and airports, they were cogs essential to the success of the event.

&quot. we had impression “we had impression living great living great

A giant picnic in La Villette

As with athletes, once the flame has been turned off, some of them have had the « blues ». “We call it the Jo-Stalgy”explains. laughing, Amandine Guillaume who aims to regain service “For Los Angeles [en 2028] Or even before, for winter games [de Milan-Cortina en 2026] ».

To thwart the void left by Paris 2024 and extend magic, some volunteers have even structured in association. Anne Barthaux. assigned to the Protocol in Roissy during the Olympic Games then a press team chef at the Stade de France, during the Paralympic, thus contributed to the development of a group of volunteers in Bordeaux: “Every month, we meet. We are talking about games. we go to a restaurant in uniform, and “we had impression living great little by little real friendships have been created. »»

Same dynamic for Katy Grignon. 52, commercial in the food industry, which participated in the creation of the Association des Volunteers de Paris 2024: “Today, we are at 60 volunteer missions. In March, for example, I did the French boxing championships! »»

Elan positive for sport

A positive impulse for French sport. the model of which is mostly based on volunteering, declining for several years. “I continued volunteering. including around sport, when it was not my field “we had impression living great before”notes Yvette Gilbert, 70, former director of media library.

To blow the first candle of the Paris Games. nearly 400 volunteers had planned to come together on Saturday July 26th at La Villette, for a giant picnic “A uniform”. “” I take the pins to exchange as in the heyday », Enthusiastic Thierry Goulet on the Paris 2024 Volunteer Facebook group.

A way to extend the Olympic spirit. but also the initial functions of the panoply imagined by Decathlon as part of its partnership with Paris 2024. “The pants are practical. it makes my students smile during EPS, so I still wear it very regularly”says Amandine Guillaume, who gave the rest of the panoply to her daughters. Enough to make the 2024 flame shine for a long time.