Olympics: Thierry Henry reveals his favorite moment one year out from Paris 2024
Olympics: Warner Bros. Discovery launches docuseries “Paris, La Vie Sportive” to celebrate countdown to Paris 2024
The 2024 Olympics, scheduled to take place in Paris from Friday, July 26 to Sunday, August 11, is ‘only’ one year away. Warner Bros. Discovery has decided to celebrate the countdown toward the return of the Games to Europe, for the first time since London 2012, by launching “Paris, La Vie Sportive,” the docuseries dedicated to Paris’ 100th sporting year since the 1924 Olympic Games.
Divided into two sixty-minute episodes and broadcast in its entirety on Eurosport 1 on Wednesday, July 26 from 8:30 p.m., Paris, La Vie Sportive features the legendary winner of the 1998 World Cup at Saint Denis in Paris and the 2000 European Championships Thierry Henry as the narrator. Stories exploring the deep connection between sport and Paris feature French soccer legends Emmanuel Petit and Marcel Desailly; all-time top runner Eddy Merckx; 7-time tennis Slam champion Mats Wilander; and Yannick Noah, the last French Roland-Garros winner.
“Whenever a big event takes place in our country, it spreads joy among people and a desire to play a new sport,” Henry remarked exclusively to Warner Bros. Discovery -When I was a kid, after the Games were over on TV, people went straight to play, emulating with friends the great Olympic champions. I would like to see that spirit come back, and not just to go down and play in the streets, but to join a school, a course, a club, whether it’s soccer, tennis, handball or whatever. I really hope that Paris 2024 can bring sports back to the center in our culture, bringing people together.”
He then revealed his favorite moment of the Olympic Games, “Easy. Marie-José Pérec in Atlanta 1996: Olympic champion in the 200 and 400 meters flat. For me, the second gold was the best Olympic moment ever.”
Despite his incredible speed, the former French striker never thought of becoming a sprinter: “I say metaphorically that you have to stay in your lane. I had no running technique, I ran on power. Athletes train technique, the way they come out of the starting block, the way they run, count steps. I never thought about it, so when people asked me how fast I would be in the 100-meter dash, I would say, “I don’t know.” Because the best you can do in the game is 40 meters, 50 if you go on a counterattack. I have too much respect for sprinters to compare myself to them.”
Finally, he revealed a sneak peek of the docuseries: “For me to tell Paris ‘from off the field’ was intense, it was special. And what I like most about her is her resilience. One hundred years ago, thanks to sports, Paris was able to rise from the rubble of the Great War: to see a light at the end of the tunnel, because the Olympic Games bring hope and resilience. Because Paris is not only elegant, it knows how to fight to defend its values. The docuseries starts from this important premise.”
