Paris Olympics boosted by noisy fans in exchange for spectators for first time since pandemic

PARIS– The chants of “Ra-fa! Rafa! roared the moment Rafael Nadal entered Roland Garros for Monday’s match against Novak Djokovic. The crowd became so enthusiastic within minutes that the chair umpire asked the spectators to keep quiet during the game.

There is a very notable difference between Paris Games and the two immediately preceding Olympics: the noise.

From the judo mat to the swimming pool, the star-studded stands in gymnastics and everywhere in between and beyond – even 10,000 miles away in Tahiti, where surfing is happening – fans have returned to the Games in raucous fashion. The Paris Olympics are the first with spectators since the COVID-19 pandemic forced Tokyo in 2021 and Beijing in 2022 to host their Games in eerily empty venues.

“This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime trip for us,” said Jodie Linsey, who flew 23 hours from Australia with an overnight stop in South Korea so her 14-year-old daughter Ellie, a swimmer, could see her idols in the pool.

It was a trip they could not have made at the last two Olympics, which took place under strict pandemic restrictions. The sounds were quite different in Tokyo: athletes’ complaints about the scorching heat could be clearly heard. Opponents could listen as rivals’ masked coaches gave instructions. The sound of sneakers on the court provided a soundtrack for basketball. The same happens with the impact of a volleyball in that covered area and even with a dip in the pool.

“I’m someone who thrives on the audience and the environment, so when that didn’t happen in Tokyo, I really tried hard to prepare for it, and obviously when everything started to go wrong for me in the final, it was really difficult. continue and push myself and I was very disappointed with that,” said Kimberley Woods of Great Britain after her bronze medal in the women’s individual kayak slalom event in Paris.

“Here, there were none of those problems. The crowd really pumped you up. It was just there. The noise was there, the atmosphere was there and, yeah, they really pumped you up at the end.”

Hundreds of fans lined up to enter Roland Garros nearly three hours before Monday’s 60th meeting between Djokovic and Nadal, more than any other two men have played against each other in the sport’s Open era, which began in 1968. Nadal has not revealed whether the Paris Olympic stage, where he won 14 French Open titles, is his farewell tour.

It was an electrifying crowd in a stadium so packed that there was a shoving match in the media section when there were not enough seats to accommodate everyone who showed up for what could have been Nadal’s final singles match.

The decidedly pro-Nadal crowd was aware that it could be one of their last opportunities to see the Spaniard on Court Philippe Chatrier and so the second round match was a potential loving farewell for him as Djokovic won 6-1 , 6- 4. Nadal is still in the doubles tournament competing for Spain with Carlos Alcaraz.

Nadal said the crowd motivated him in the second set, when he won four games in a row, including a forehand winner to break and make it 4-all.

“I always feel like I’m playing at home when I play here. It’s so special to me,” said Nadal. “I like that and they give me energy at the moment when things start to change a little. I can’t thank everyone here enough. It made me feel so special.”

Kevin Durant, who led the U.S. men’s basketball team to gold in Tokyo, immediately noticed the difference when 27,000 fans flocked to the Americans’ victory over Serbia on Sunday. Many wore NBA jerseys representing most of the league.

“I love it when a basketball game can bring people together from all over the world, from different walks of life, like that,” Durant said. Noting the stark contrast with Tokyo, he said, “This seems like a long time ago. That era of the world seems like just, it was 20 years ago, you know? So to see so many people here supporting the game of basketball, it was incredible.”

It was similar on Sunday night at La Defense Arena, when French swimmer Léon Marchand won gold with a dominant victory in the 400-meter individual medley in front of a deafening flag-waving crowd.

“It was beyond what I expected, everyone was screaming my name,” Marchand said. “I don’t know how to explain it, but it was really great.”

Will Shin of Atlanta was present for Marchand’s victory and called the crowd “absolutely electric” for his first Olympic experience.

“The French really know how to excite the crowd and the night was different from what I’m used to in the US,” Shin said. “Seeing the Olympic Games in person has been a personal goal and I am ecstatic to finally be able to make it to the Games, in one of the most visited cities in the world.”

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AP Sports Writers Cliff Brunt, Janie McCauley and Teresa M. Walker contributed to this report.

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