Paris 2024- Olympic Games, the story so far

 Paris 2024- Olympic Games, the story so far.

The country that once gave us Proust, Balzac, Rousseau and Matisse, once again gave us an evening where France could once again wax lyrical about so profusely. The 2024 Paris Olympic Games is slowly building up a head of steam and, after a day of sweltering heat in the capital city of France, this really was uplifting in the extreme. There were golden heroes to be found in Leon Marchand in the swimming and France could barely contain its merriment  and ecstasy.

The local boy had captured the hearts of every Frenchmen and women. Leon Marchand had emerged as just one of the musketeers the French must be pinning their hopes on for yet bigger and more bountiful harvests of medals. The city of romance and love had fallen for Marchand because here was a man who had suddenly represented all of those Renaissance ideals the nation had been so rightly proud of. Art and literature are somehow symbolic of everything that is French and an Olympic Games in Paris just seemed so welcome and appropriate after a century's absence. Marchand had won the 200 m butterfly and did so with a typical display of dash and elan.

After the kind of opening ceremony that most of us would want to totally wipe from our consciousness as soon as possible, France opened its doors to magnificent cyclists on some of the wettest streets you're ever likely to see. The French have been longing to embrace an Olympic sports festival because 1924 must feel like ancient history now. The street artists still entertain the public, the croissants are tastier than ever, Le Monde remains one of the most educational newspapers in Europe, the breakfast baguettes are just mouth watering and the Eiffel Tower is still one of the most striking pieces of architecture.

When a Frenchman or woman sits down to his or her cafe au lait and petit dejeuneur with just a hint of cinnamon in their morning pastry, they may invariably think  their the day will just be perfect and flawless. They will look back to that historic night in Paris when France, decorated with the idyllic portraiture of Emmanuel Petit, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Didier Deschamps and Marcel Desailly, won the World Cup in their own backyard back in 1998 and now believe that things will be elevated to an even  higher sporting plateau.

Yesterday though, it was Team GB who brought home the gold to those discerning followers of the triathlon, an astonishing exhibition of remarkable stamina, endurance and sheer grit. Alex Yee, with a smile as wide as a boulevard, sprinted home to victory gracefully and almost effortlessly. After a battle of wits with New Zealand's Hayden Wilde, Yee timed his moment of glory to clockwork precision. Rounding the final bend of a punishing triathlon, Wilde's legs were beginning to turn to jelly and Yee seized the day. Yee chased after Wilde like a man who thought he'd get to the bus stop before Wilde. 

Then, an explosive turn of pace and electrifying kick, left the New Zealander gasping for breath. Yee duly burst for the finishing line, shoulders pumping with adrenaline, legs powering towards the finishing line. It was the most triumphant night Team GB had probably seen since Sir Mo Farrah streaked away from the rest of the field for Great Britain in London 2012. Yee has that fresh faced, cherubic look of youthful effervescence that some of us thought we'd see again but were never sure when.

We are all now blissfully aware of Team GB's illustrious record on the rowing lakes of the world. When Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw dug their oars into the water with purposeful conviction, we knew we were about to witness another Team GB masterclass. The girls strained and stretched every muscle in their bodies, faces contorted with pain but realising that a gold medal was theirs for the taking. It was gold for GB and, for one brief and heady moment, we cast our minds back to Sir Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsett and knew we'd seen this before, a stirring rendition of a similar song.

Back at the swimming pool, Team GB were once again shouting from the rooftops, celebrating wildly with gold yet again. This was a Tom Dean moment and he was suitably accompanied by Duncan Scott, James Guy and Matthew Richards. All four men swum like the proverbial fish, cruising through the water with consummate ease, heads turning from side to side in mathematical unison, arms gliding through the water almost instinctively and then charging for the winning line. It had been the most pulsating 4 by 200metres freestyle Final any of us had seen and Team GB had done it again.

Out on the equestrian field, Lauren Collett, Tom McEwan, Ros Canter had displayed all of the finest horsemanship that has always been Team GB's forte, one of its favourite moments in the sun. This was Britain doing their best at something they've excelled at for years. You were reminded of the middle classes of Hickstead in Sussex, England, where the esteemed likes of Lucinda Prior Palmer would light up high summers in England with a joyful gallop on her equine friend, leaping over fences with a staggering class and refinement.

And last but not least there was Tom Daley, who not content with winning gold at Olympics of recent years, did it all over again. Daley, who lists as one of his hobbies as knitting, once again threw himself off a diving board from quite the most amazing height as if he'd done so a million times in the past. He tuck piked his body, before flipping over again and again, spinning like a child's top before hitting the water without even a hint of trouble. Daley is one of Team GB's greatest divers of all time and showed exactly why the public have taken to him, a wonderfully amiable figure who just makes his sport look so easy and straightforward. Let the show continue, Paris. It's pretty spectacular and most of us are just besotted with every single moment. The Olympic Games are well and truly alive.