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Article written by AUP Assistant Professor Caroline Laurent, French Studies and Modern Languages Department

Since 2016, through its Olympics Art Visions programme, the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage has commissioned a sculpture to represent the Olympic Games. The ,鈥� by American artist Alison Saar, shows a Black woman sitting while holding an olive branch and a gold flame. 鈥淪alon,鈥� located in the Charles Aznavour garden near the Champs-Elys茅es, evokes two important issues of this year鈥檚 Olympic Games in France: gender and race.

Gender Trouble: The Struggles of Women Athletes

Women鈥檚 sports and women athletes have continuously been undervalued. Women鈥檚 sports are less talked about in the media, and their games are less frequently shown on national television. In France, women鈥檚 soccer games are usually shown on cable television and the French private payable channel Canal+, while their male counterparts鈥� games are shown on national television. Media exposure, including a wider range of TV broadcasting and streaming options, denotes the value attached to sports. The Olympic Games will allow women鈥檚 sports to receive (almost) equal treatment: for instance, the women鈥檚 soccer games will be shown on the channels of France T茅l茅visions, just like the men鈥檚 soccer games.

This is not insignificant: it represents how the Paris Olympic Games have managed to achieve complete gender parity, a first in Olympic history. Half of the athletes present in France and its overseas territories for the Games are women. Compared to the 1900 Olympics that also took place in Paris, where women were first allowed to compete (in only five sports), it represents a significant increase from 2.2% in 1900 to 50% in 2024. This is not only thanks to initiatives led by the International Olympic Committee but also because of women athletes who have spoken up about sexism in sports. In the early 1920s, Alice Milliat founded the F茅d茅ration sportive f茅minine internationale (International Women鈥檚 Sports Federation) to fight for the inclusion of women in the Olympics. Often disregarded in the history of the Olympics, it was thus meaningful to see her rise on the Seine during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Games, among nine other women who influenced French history. A to promote women鈥檚 sports bears her name today. One hundred years after Milliat, in 2020, French fencer Ysaora Thibus launched EssentiElle Stories, a social media platform where the athlete gives 鈥�.鈥� Thibus鈥檚 endeavor to concentrate on women athletes is to counter the recurrent and still dominant focus on physical appearance (see, for instance, French judoka to comments on her body) and on the athlete鈥檚 family/personal life鈥攔ather than on sports and actual results.

The control of women鈥檚 bodies is a recurring issue and is still relevant in these gender-equal Games. Indeed, a few days before the opening ceremony, French relay runner Sounkamba Sylla was told that she would not be able to attend the opening ceremony wearing a hijab. In sticking by the ban, citing the country鈥檚 濒补茂肠颈迟茅 laws despite the International Olympic Committee鈥檚 2023 statement that there would be no restrictions on wearing the hijab, the French Olympic Committee openly attempted to control the bodies of its women athletes, especially Muslim women. Amnesty International has denounced the ban as a 鈥溾�� tarnishing these first Games with gender parity.

Woman, Native, Other: The Struggles of France鈥檚 Women Athletes of Color

The controversy highlights the tension in France regarding Republican universalism and multiculturalism. When Alison Saar said that, through her sculpture 鈥淪alon,鈥� she 鈥渨anted to represent the multicultural nature of France and Paris,鈥� she embraced and highlighted the country鈥檚 diversity. In 鈥�,鈥� historian Tyler Stovall pointed out that the universalist vision France has proudly advocated disregards the multiculturalism (notably as a direct result of colonization) of France鈥檚 population. Universalism remains too theoretical and idealistic; it fails to provide solutions for gender, racial, and religious discrimination in French society. It also further excludes differences from French national identity.

France鈥檚 diversity through its minorities was visible during the opening ceremony. Thomas Jolly, the ceremony鈥檚 artistic director, depicted a vibrant and diverse France, including its minorities in numerous scenes. Paulette Nardal, a writer from Martinique, was one of the ten golden statues of influential women. She participated in the creation of a literary movement that advocated for the rights of Black people worldwide. Aya Nakamura, a French-Malian singer, performed with France鈥檚 Republican Guard. After months of controversy over her heavy use of slang and foreign words in her songs, it was striking to see her emerge from the Institut de France, where the conservative Acad茅mie fran莽aise meets to discuss matters related to the French language. The inclusion of France鈥檚 minorities in Jolly鈥檚 various scenes was so prominent that the far-right, which had won more seats than ever in the National Assembly a couple of weeks prior, was outraged by Jolly鈥檚 鈥榳oke鈥� representations.

But a certain malaise prevailed for some. On X (formerly Twitter), many commented that the France depicted by Jolly felt bittersweet: it is the France they all desire, but it is not the France they know or experience daily. There exists a discrepancy, and consequently, many felt that minorities were used as tokens in this ceremony. While Axelle Saint-Cirel, who sang the French national anthem La Marseillaise from the top of the Grand Palais, had an Afro, numerous posters pointed out the discrimination Black women encounter, particularly at work, if they keep their hair natural. This not only highlights the control that female bodies suffer but also the acute scrutiny of 聽women of color. Knowing they are going to be looked at, women of color internalize the expectations associated with their skin color. Frantz Fanon, a psychiatrist from Martinique and a prominent figure in postcolonial studies, refers to the 鈥渆pidermal racial schema鈥� in 鈥淭he Lived Experience of the Black鈥� (鈥淟'exp茅rience v茅cue du Noir鈥�) in Black Skin, White Masks (Peau noire, masques blancs). Black men and women are aware of their bodies through the gaze of the other: they internalize the ways they are looked at and try to respond to this oppressive gaze. In this sense, they seek to counter this gaze, notably by proving their worth.

While Fanon applies this schema to colonial times, it remains relevant today, including through the concept of minorities鈥� exceptionalism. Referring to the need for Black people to reach excellence, exceptionalism is a double-edged sword: it does celebrate the achievements of Black people despite inequity, but it also stems from racist systems, as Black people need to prove themselves to show they are 鈥榞ood enough.鈥� Perhaps the best example of this is the French track and field sprinter Marie-Jos茅 P茅rec. A victim of racism and harsh scrutiny during her career, she pushed herself to win. In a , she stated that whatever she could not voice at the time, she expressed through her medals: by winning, she 鈥渓ost her color鈥� (鈥�je perds ma couleur鈥�). In order to prove racist people wrong, she had to be the best. Marie-Jos茅 P茅rec truly embodies the ambivalent space in which the best Black women athletes are confined. During the opening ceremony, she received an indirect form of apology and recognition by being an Olympic flame torchbearer and co-lighter of the cauldron. In this sense, let鈥檚 hope that the 2024 Paris opening ceremony does not remain an exceptional depiction of France but actually becomes a template for what the country should strive to truly become.