PARIS — It’s already a feat to qualify for any version of the Olympic and Paralympic Video games. For France’s delegation, there’s the added emotion of competing on house soil for the 2024 version.

For a handful within the French contingent, there will probably be additional shine nonetheless: being named as flag bearers. And for the primary time, this choice was finished by means of a vote by the athletes collaborating on this summer season’s competitors.

WWD met the 4 athletes who will lead their nationwide delegation for the opening ceremonies of the Paris Video games on Friday and on Aug. 28 respectively.

Mélina Robert-Michon

Discus throwing
First participation: 2000 Summer season Olympics in Sydney
Silver medal on the 2016 Summer season Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
This version marks her seventh participation within the Video games.

WWD: What’s your first reminiscence of the Video games?

Mélina Robert-Michon: My first reminiscence is Cathy Fleury, the French judoka who gained the gold medal in the course of the 1992 Summer season Olympics in Barcelona, as a result of I used to be working towards judo on the time. However somewhat later, it was Marie-José Perec in ’96 — I had began athletics and acquired up in the midst of the night time [to watch the Games] — and that’s when my mother and father realized it was one thing critical. [Perec’s performance] impressed me to go additional.

I hope younger individuals who see [the Paris Games] will likewise be impressed to go to stadiums, to swimming pools to realize themselves. Past efficiency, it’s about transferring, assembly folks. Medals weren’t prime of thoughts for me.

WWD: How does it really feel to be chosen as flag bearer?

M.R.-M.: After all, you’re feeling good whenever you’re fortunate to have this function. There’s additionally plenty of pleasure in understanding we’ve got been chosen by our friends. I’m very touched that they thought of we have been those that greatest represented [the contingent] and it makes [us] really feel much more authentic.

WWD: What’s the spirit of the Video games?

M.R.-M.: The Olympic spirit can be in that blend of loads of sports activities, loads of completely different personalities and that’s what is basically sturdy. Universality can be one thing you’ll be able to add. Europe or world championships are one thing that pursuits specialists extra, however the Olympic Video games are for the general public at massive. Everybody is aware of them, everybody has not less than one reminiscence of [them] and it’s the sporting occasion even for many who aren’t sporty.

Sport teaches us to stay collectively with out query. It has this potential to carry collectively individuals who would have by no means met below different circumstances, with out distinction of the place they arrive from. We’re right here, we share this second collectively and it’s one thing that provides hope that it’s potential.

It feels good. We want this now, to have this little bubble of oxygen the place you see folks residing collectively, all athletes. It would sound idealistic but when it might encourage others and it might develop into broadly actuality, it will be glorious.

WWD: Do you have got a pre-competition routine?

M.R.-M.: I don’t like locking myself into one thing. It actually evolves and relies on the wants of the second. Once you’re at the start of your profession, you may want issues that reassure you somewhat however after that, you reside different issues and also you understand they [too] work.

WWD: What’s your hidden expertise?

M.R.-M.: I like cooking and with my associate, we additionally like DIY house enchancment. We love beginning with one thing utterly run down and reaching the ultimate consequence we imagined once we first noticed the home or the flat.

WWD: Your outfits for the Video games are all set however what’s your trend signature?

M.R.-M.: I’m actually into sneakers. I’ve masses and swap relying on temper, second, outfits and so forth. Clothes-wise, for dressier moments, I like jumpsuits and have them in loads of colours. They are often elegant but in addition be extra laid-back.

Florent Manaudou

Swimming
First participation: 2012 Summer season Olympics in London
Gold medal on 50-meter freestyle on the 2012 Summer season Olympics in London, two silver medals on the Rio Olympics, one silver medal on the Tokyo Olympics.
He’s additionally a handballer and took a three-year break from swimming to play professionally.

WWD: What’s your first reminiscence of the Video games?

Florent Manaudou: My very first reminiscence was Cathy Freeman lighting the flame in Sydney [in 2000] — and Mélina was already there. I’ve by no means recognized Olympic Video games with out Mélina and it was an unimaginable image of inclusion on the time.

And each 4 years, it’s unimaginable tales — French or in any other case — just like the [U.S.] basketball Dream Workforce. And it’s unimaginable moments like crossing paths with Serena Williams or Usain Bolt within the athlete village. My favourite one goes to the eating corridor as a result of that’s the place you actually see everybody, from a 14-year-old gymnast to a 65-year-old equestrian, everybody lives collectively and I discover that superior.

WWD: How does it really feel to be chosen as flag bearer?

F.M.: Being elected [to the role] by our friends added a legitimacy that wouldn’t have been as sturdy if France’s Olympic committee had designated us. However regardless of the consequence, I might have been glad as a result of I wished to stay these Video games at house. I had by no means skilled main swimming competitions, it’s going to be a primary.

WWD: What’s the spirit of the Video games?

F.M.: For me, the Olympic Video games are about residing collectively and that makes us higher human beings as a result of we understand that, sure, we will stay collectively. Residing an expertise just like the Olympic one makes us far more tolerant.

No matter faith, nationality, pores and skin colour, we’re all on the identical footing within the [Olympic] village. We see an increasing number of conflicts that divide folks and it’s unbelievable seeing folks introduced collectively due to sport. Throughout the Olympic torch relay, we actually felt this variety, socially and in lots of different points. I like bringing folks collectively and seeing it in France goes to be even higher.

[The Olympic spirit also] represents so many issues: selflessness, work but in addition pleasure, variety. There are such a lot of phrases that you might pack into it. Olympic sports activities have develop into an increasing number of skilled so past the “what counts is collaborating” saying that was expressed with the Video games have been relaunched by Pierre de Coubertin, we’ve got this need to carry medals to our nation.

WWD: Do you have got a pre-competition routine?

F.M.: It modifications each time relying on my needs and wishes. I really feel that I had completely different wants for my first Video games and can have completely different ones for my final ones. However I don’t like saying “my final” as a result of once I see Mélina doing seven [editions], perhaps I’ll proceed.

I’m not very superstitious and don’t actually like doing the identical factor again and again. In the event you ended up not doing that forward of a race, it will probably throw you off.

WWD: What’s your hidden expertise?

F.M.: It’s not precisely a hidden expertise however I actually like to be taught. I’m a short-term fanatic, which suggests I’ll problem myself to do one thing, obtain it, then swap to one thing else. Previously few years, I’ve realized to play guitar, taking part in six hours a day. Throughout lockdown, it was astronomy. I purchased a telescope and spent hours wanting up YouTube movies to know. I’m actually inquisitive about how issues work.

WWD: Your outfits for the Video games are all set however what’s your trend signature?

F.M.: Caps are the accent I’ve probably the most of. Not too long ago, I additionally began carrying bucket hats too. I’ve the impression [they] assist me concentrate on myself and that I’m somewhat bit protected. Once I’m carrying a cap, I really feel much less susceptible, though I not often am susceptible, particularly being a somewhat tall man.

Nantenin Keïta

Para-athletics, T13 dash occasions
First participation: 2008 Beijing Summer season Paralympic Video games
Gold medal on the 2016 Summer season Olympics, silver and bronze medals on the Beijing Olympics, bronze medal on the London Olympics.
She was the primary to hold the Olympic flame when it landed in France on Might 8. 

WWD: What’s your first reminiscence of the Video games?

Nantenin Keïta: On the Olympic aspect, it will be the 2 400-meter finals in Sydney, [respectively] with Cathy Freeman and Michael Johnson. I will need to have been doing monitor and discipline for 2 years by then. Freeman was simply majestic and Johnson…I’d all the time heard that he ran badly and gained every thing. Once I began, I used to be instructed I ran actually badly and instructed myself that if that was the case and I gained every thing like Johnson, I used to be positive with it. For the Paralympic Video games, it will be my first opening ceremony.

WWD: What does being chosen as flag bearer imply to you?

N.Ok.: What drives us is basically transferring the needle for folks with disabilities and sports activities for everybody. Whoever you’re, wherever you’re from, there’s a sport for you the place you’ll be able to blossom.

It’s about altering mentalities about parasports. We obtain efficiency, we prepare onerous and, certain, we’ve got the specificity of getting a handicap, be it seen or not, however we’re right here for efficiency, to make others dream like every other athlete — with much more resilience.

Having the Video games at house has been an accelerator for golf equipment to open their doorways to parasports.  

WWD: What’s the spirit of the Video games?

N.Ok.: It’s about mixing as a result of what’s the complete world? It’s Olympic athletes, it’s folks with disabilities, it’s people who find themselves Black, white, quick, tall, and many others. Having a unified Workforce France, that’s the actual world, that’s actual life. As athletes, we’re used to coaching with Olympic athletes they usually’re used to coaching with Paralympians. Some have even practiced their disciplines on the Paralympic aspect as a result of they have been injured. Each worlds want one another — and we’re just one world.

WWD: Do you have got a pre-competition routine?

N.Ok.: How a lot time do you have got? (Laughs.) I’ve loads of rituals and superstitions. It begins from the second I get my bib quantity. It actually reassures me as a result of I’m somebody who will get actually burdened. However that’s simply on competitors days. The remainder of my life is totally chaotic. (Laughs.)

WWD: Your outfits for the Video games are all set however what’s your trend signature?

N.Ok.: I’ve a visible handicap and a bodily distinction. Once I was youthful, folks would usually consult with this — I’m albino — and the truth that albinism will not be lovely. Style grew to become a method to categorical myself and inform folks to not cease there. I’m many issues, I’ve many aspects and trend permits you to categorical each relying in your outfit.

I like garments and leather-based items, which I gather. In the present day, I feel I’ve extra purses than worldwide medals, however extra nationwide ones than purses. (Laughs.) My newest buy is a small Loewe basket with the emblem on the entrance with white leather-based particulars. And I gather headgear of every kind. Hats, caps, you title it.

Alexis Hanquinquant

Para-triathlon, PTS4
First participation: 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Video games
Gold medal on the 2020 Summer season Paralympics
He offered the Olympic flame on the Cannes Movie Pageant purple carpet in Might.

WWD: What’s your first reminiscence of the Video games?

Alexis Hanquinquant: For me, it’ll be Marie-José Perec too. The ultimate in Atlanta in 1996 was actually once I found the Olympic world, in all its energy and together with her utterly insane stride. It actually put stars in my eyes. My first Paralympic reminiscence was London in 2012, which actually breathed new life into parasports by giving it visibility. It didn’t have a lot media presence earlier than that, few TV broadcasts and that’s whenever you began to have a spectacular aspect to the Paralympic motion.

WWD: What does being chosen as flag bearer imply to you?

A.H.: There’s an enormous sense of delight. It’s an enormous satisfaction to be elected by our fellow athletes. It’s recognition of our character, of our respective sporting careers and an enormous accountability to carry this complete staff behind us. There’s additionally an obligation to alter the gaze on handicap and extra broadly on distinction in addition to reconnecting French folks with sports activities as a result of sport is basically crucial to really feel properly in your thoughts, in your physique. It’s an important device for me.

I hope Nanto [the nickname of Keïta] and I’ll problem the preconceived concept that the Paralympic Video games are about “handicapped sport.”

No, it’s sport with the identical power, the identical depth, the identical emotion, the identical need to succeed because the Olympic Video games, with added resilience. We now have the chance to speed up this modification exponentially due to the Paris Video games.

Positive, let’s discuss in regards to the medical situations as a result of it’s necessary to know the variations of every athlete. However in the long run, let’s discuss efficiency, velocity, power. That’s what pursuits us [as athletes] and the general public of sports activities.

I don’t notably like listening to that we’ve got extra advantage than athletes competing within the Olympic Video games. However we’ve got simply as a lot and I’m bothered by the truth that media protection stays smaller.

I invite those that suppose that Paralympic sports activities are “lower than” Olympic sports activities to look at, in individual or on TV. They are going to be enthralled as a result of they’ll understand there’s not an oz of pity within the eye of a Paralympian, solely efficiency and a need to win.

WWD: What’s your hidden expertise?

A.H.: I’m nonetheless on the lookout for my primary abilities. (Laughs.) I come from building so I’m good with my arms. I not too long ago constructed planters for my spouse. For one thing I made between coaching classes, the consequence isn’t too unhealthy. She’s proud of them, that’s an important half.

WWD: Your outfits for the Video games are all set however what’s your trend signature?

A.H.: Style wasn’t a discipline I gravitated towards, however I’ve realized to navigate it. Being wearing Berluti doesn’t damage. (Laughs.) Some time again, I even walked throughout Paris Style Week, for Marine Serre’s [spring 2023] present and I cherished it. That’s an expertise I’d prefer to repeat sooner or later.