SAINT-DENIS, France — A lively brass band met them at the stadium gates, providing the jaunty soundtrack for the party that was about to start. And, needless to say, France was ready to dance.
They arrived at these Olympics wearing wigs and costumes, waving flags and belting chants. They painted their cheeks with French flags, their hair with French colors. When the home team took the field for the first time at the Paris Games, a giant banner unrolled at one end of the stadium: Allez Les Bleus, the rallying cry of the French national teams.
They had waited years for this. The torch isn’t yet lit, but the games have effectively begun. France opened play Wednesday in the men’s rugby sevens tournament, the first athletic event for the host nation, which took place in front of an estimated crowd of nearly 70,000 at iconic Stade de France. Though the opening match ended in a 12-12 draw against a young U.S. squad, it had the feel of a party, setting a promising tone for the rest of the Games.
“Awesome,” said American halfback Madison Hughes, who is competing in his third Olympics. “That’s what you want as an athlete. You want to perform in front of passionate fans who are really into what you’re doing. Absolutely loved it.”
It was a fitting opener. Rugby sevens is a fast-paced, truncated version of one of the world’s most popular sports, and it’s especially beloved in France. Every session of the men’s rugby tournament is sold out.
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“Rugby in France is hot,” said Australia’s Henry Hutchison, whose team won the first match of the tournament, 21-14, over Samoa. “But it’s also a world game, so there’s so many people from around the world here.”
End of carouselIt is among the most anticipated Olympic sports for locals and a marquee event for organizers, who chose to stage the tournament in the country’s largest stadium. Stade de France was built for the 1998 World Cup, serves as home of the men’s national soccer team and has hosted three Rugby World Cups. Last year’s Rugby World Cup, staged across France, had an average attendance of nearly 51,000 for its 48 matches.
Alan Gilpin, chief executive of World Rugby, the sport’s international governing body, said more than half a million people will file through the stadium gates for the Olympic tournament and rugby sevens was one of the highest-demand events in Paris.
“We really believe this is the Olympic Games where rugby sevens comes of age,” he said.
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Aurélie Merle, the executive sports director of the Paris Games, said it was no accident that the athletic competition started Wednesday with rugby sevens and the men’s soccer tournament.
“This is the DNA of our Games,” she said. “... It’s party time at this sport.”
American Orrin Bizer walked out of the stadium tunnel Wednesday focused on what promised to be a consequential match. But he couldn’t ignore the rumbling crowd and chuckled when he somehow spotted his sister amid the sea of French flags.
“Just seeing the atmosphere, it brought the biggest smile to my face,” he said.
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The crowd erupted barely three minutes into the match when France’s Jordan Sepho crossed the goal line. It fell eerily silent by half, following a try by American Lucas Lacamp and Stephen Tomasin’s conversion, which gave the United States a 7-5 advantage. The ahhs and the oohs — and occasional sacre bleus — perfectly matched the rhythm of the fast-paced battle.
“That was a special crowd,” Hughes said. “Compared to Rio and then Tokyo, which had no crowd whatsoever, it’s awesome for the Olympics to have that atmosphere.”
Barely 30 seconds into the second half, Rayan Rebbadj’s try put Les Bleus back in the lead, but then American Marcus Tupuola crossed the goal line with five minutes remaining to tie the score at 12. Hughes missed the conversion that would have put the United States on top.
The Americans, who were knocked out in the quarterfinals three years ago in Tokyo, weren’t complaining about a draw against a talented team; they hope to advance out of group play to the knockout rounds here.
“To draw with the host nation with all those fans in the stadium, just a test of who the boys are and our character to stay in the fight,” said U.S. wing Perry Baker.
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