PARIS (AP) — Just like the fans cheering 22-year-old French swimming prodigy Léon Marchand at La Défense Arena in western Paris, Olivier Legris was on his feet and chanting “Allez Léon! Allez Léon! (Go on Léon!)"
But Legris, 29, was nowhere near his idol. Instead, he was standing in front of a giant screen on the lawn of Club France, the largest fan zone in Paris for the Summer Games. Dressed in a Zinedine Zidane soccer jersey and a bucket hat in the colors of the French flag — despite temperatures nearing 100 degrees — he was with thousands of fans, all cheering for Marchand as he powered his way to finish first in the 200-meter butterfly semifinals on Tuesday night.
“That’s my way of joining the competition,” Legris said.
In the north of Paris, the Grande Halle de la Villette, typically an exhibition venue, has been transformed into Club France — a pulsating hub of national pride and celebration. On Tuesday, the French tricolor flag was everywhere, being waved in the hands of fans and painted on their faces.
“I’ve never felt more French,” said Zina Lemiere, a 57-year-old sporting a rooster beanie in the national colors. She has attended soccer matches at the Stade de France and is now watching the competitions at Club France.
The experience was unmistakably French, as for a brief moment the sporting celebrations made way for cultural interludes such as a ballet performance by the Preljocaj company. Outside, fans wearing berets indulged in a game of pétanque on a gravel ground set up by one of the many sponsors, to the sound of an electro remix of Edith Piaf’s classic “La Vie en rose.”
France has won a total of 18 medals so far and organizers said that more than a million French fans have watched the Olympics from one of the 150 fan zones across the country.
Every night, once the competitions wrap up, the Grande Halle transforms into a nightclub. Medal-winning French athletes often come to the venue to celebrate with their dedicated fans. Wild scenes of celebration following the French rugby sevens team’s gold medal victory went viral on Saturday.
Tuesday's celebrations did not reach similar decibels. Judo bronze medalist Clarisse Agbegnenou is still involved in the mixed judo competition, and women’s team epee silver medalists Coraline Vitalis, Marie-Florence Candassamy, Alexandra Louis-Marie, and Auriane Mallo-Breton were unable to make it to the stage. The fencing final finished too late for the athletes to reach the venue, the organizers explained to the crowd of disappointed fans.
“We dream of touching the athletes, getting close to their medals,” said Corentin Massa, an 18-year-old fan.
But fans continued to celebrate to the sound of French party classics like “Freed from Desire,” “I Will Survive,” and “Djadja,” all booming loud on the speakers way past midnight.
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
Banners the color of the French flag hang on the ceiling of the Club France, an Olympic fan zone, in northern Paris, France, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tom Nouvian)
Three fans dressed in the color of the French flag, Martin Puyge, left, André Marais, center, and Philippe Bouju, right, in Club France, an Olympic fan zone, in northern Paris, France, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tom Nouvian)
The main hall of the Club France, an Olympic fan zone in the La Villette Park, in northern Paris, France, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tom Nouvian)
Fans cheer in Club France, an Olympic fan zone, in northern Paris, France, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tom Nouvian)
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (AP) — Donald Trump has spent nearly a decade bragging about his crowds. Lately, he’s been making the same boasts to swaths of empty seats.
In his third presidential bid, Trump for the first time is facing an opponent who stages her own massive rallies, calling further attention to the fact that his crowds, however enthusiastic they are, sometimes have failed to fill large venues and often thinned out as he spoke.
In North Carolina this weekend, the former president and Republican nominee spoke at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, where the lower level of the 22,000-seat arena remained unfilled, with the upper level blocked off altogether.
“We've had the biggest rallies in history of any country. Every rally's full," he falsely claimed anyway. “You don't have any seats that are empty.”
He began Monday, the eve of the election, in Raleigh, North Carolina, where a late-arriving crowd came close to filling the venue but left a smattering of empty seats. In Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump took the stage in Santander Arena, where there were sections of empty seats in the 7,200-seat arena. The campaign hung a large American flag near the back of the arena, blocking the view of several seating sections that remained unfilled.
He then went to PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, where the upper level seating was again blocked off.
The former president's crowds still numbered in the thousands and they roared regularly as he spoke. But the scenes offered a notable contrast to Democratic nominee Kamala Harris' biggest events this fall — and to the volume and vibe of Trump's crowds eight years ago when he sought and won the presidency for the first time.
To be sure, crowd sizes aren't necessarily predictive of electoral outcomes. And his core supporters this year remain engaged enough that he filled Madison Square Garden in heavily Democratic New York City just days ago.
Still, Trump has been drawing smaller crowds in the closing stretch of the campaign than he did in previous races, especially his first campaign, when his mass events became a political phenomenon. Trump’s crowds this fall also have often thinned out as the former president’s long stump speeches extend into their second hour.
People routinely leave while he's speaking, sometimes in droves, after waiting several hours for a spot.
There are reasons why some might be fatigued.
Trump has been returning again and again to the same battleground states, sometimes speaking in the same places and even the same venues. Trump’s smaller Greensboro crowd, for example, came eight days after he had campaigned in the same city.
He also often runs late, starting three hours behind recently in Traverse City, Michigan, after taping an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan.
But whatever the explanation, the former reality television star and consummate showman clearly remains invested in the performative aspect of presidential politics and obviously concerned that Harris, unlike Democrats Hillary Clinton in 2016 or Joe Biden in 2020, can match and even exceed his signature campaign tactic. Harris, for example, recently filled the large coliseum in Greensboro.
Democrats have embraced the dynamics as a way to get under Trump’s skin. Former President Barack Obama, the last national figure before Trump and Harris to make mass rallies a key part of his campaigns, noted Trump’s “weird obsession” with crowd size during his speech at the Democratic National Convention in August. Obama added mocking hand gestures about size that evoked Trump's own comments during his first campaign on hand sizes and his implication that they reflected his manhood.
Harris invoked crowd sizes during her lone debate against Trump, one of many times that she knocked the former president off course during their 90-minute exchange. She urged people to attend Trump's rallies as a way of understanding his time had passed.
Trump on Monday night in Pittsburgh directed barbs toward Beyoncé’s appearance at a recent Harris rally that drew more than 30,000 people. The megastar introduced Harris in Houston but did not perform.
Harris has campaigned with a bevy of celebrities and pop stars in the campaign's final days, ending with a Philadelphia rally featuring Oprah Winfrey and Lady Gaga. The star of Trump's show, meanwhile, remains the former president.
In recent days, he's shown a wistful side both about the rallies and the crowds coming to see him — however big they really are.
“I have one left,” he said in Pittsburgh, wistfully looking ahead to his late-night event in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “And remember, the rallies are the most exciting thing. They’ll never be rallies like this. This is never going to happen again.” ——
Barrow reported from Washington. Jonathan J. Cooper contributed from Phoenix.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at Santander Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Reading, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Santander Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Reading, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at PPG Paints Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at First Horizon Coliseum, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Greensboro, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Supporters leave as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at McCamish Pavilion Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Supporters leave as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at McCamish Pavilion Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
