In Paris

The climax of last Friday night’s colourful, four-hour Paris 2024 Olympic Games opening ceremony was the traditional lighting of the Olympic cauldron, the flame that stays lit throughout the Games and is only extinguished at the closing ceremony.

A few minutes to midnight on Friday, France’s track star Marie-Jose Perec and judoka Teddy Riner, both Olympic legends, jointly positioned the Olympic torch into the 30-metre-high cauldron to trigger the flame that rose in a hot air balloon into the Paris night sky.

The expertly choreographed moment at the Tuileries Gardens of marked the official start of the 33rd Olympic Games.

Among the VIP guests at the opening ceremony was Juliette Murugu, probably the luckiest Kenyan having been picked to be among the 10,000 Olympic Torchbearers who were part of the flame’s journey since it was lit on April 21 in Olympia, Greece.

The Olympic flame is seen as a symbol of peace, with the idea of lighting the torch in Olympia and subsequent torch relay first implemented in 1936 for the Berlin Games.

Airbnb, a global American-owned company that curates short-and-long-term homestays, is among the Olympic partners and Murugu was picked for the Torch Relay as one of Airbnb’s Host Advisory Board members.

“It was really a symbolic run and I covered about 200 metres… It was so beautiful because they move with you along the streets, and you have bodyguards, fans are waving at you… it was so beautiful!,” Murugu, a former public relations manager at Total Kenya, lets her Olympic adventure sink in.

She carried the torch in the town of Torcy, Central France, along the Allee du 19 Mars Street, and was later on the ‘A’ list of invitations to the opening ceremony which was led by French President Emmanuel Macron, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and Paris 2024 Local Organising Committee head, three-time Olympic canoeing champion Tony Estanguet.

But besides Murugu, several other Kenyans travelled to Paris to specifically follow and cheer Team Kenya competitors in the six disciplines that Kenya qualified to feature in, namely men’s sevens rugby, women’s volleyball, swimming, fencing, judo and athletics.

Two of the Kenyan fans arrived in Paris directly from Canada and went straight to the South Paris Arena for the “Malkia Strikers” volleyball opener against Brazil on Monday. 

The two ladies, who had a noticeable North American accent – and who preferred to just be known as Omollo and Okello - produced a Kenyan flag and told Nation Sport they were here to follow Team Kenya.

“We are going to try and get tickets for the next volleyball game, but for judo, and athletics we will see… where Kenya is, we are there too!

“We are here to support them, no matter if there is just the two of us, but will always be cheering Kenya. We got of the plane and we came to support Kenya,” they said while waving the Kenyan flag and ululating outside the Paris Arena after Malkia Strikers lost to the South American giants.

A trip to the Paris Olympics could cost an average of 5,000 Euros for a brief stay, or about Sh700,000, a steep figure especially with current socio-economic challenges.

But rugby super fan, Konye wa Njoroge, a US-based medic and former rugby player who follows Kenya’s men’s sevens rugby team “Shujaa” wherever they travel, always plans well ahead to travel to such events.

“I used to play rugby but I currently don’t play anymore. But I enjoy watching the game and I like the spirit of the game, so that’s the primary motivator that pushes me to go and watch Kenya’s rugby team wherever they are playing in the world,” he tells Daily Nation after “Shujaa” defeated Samoa in the play-offs to finish ninth overall.

“Then again I like to see the young talent and I like seeing the boys win, and again sometimes they get some tough losses – at the end of the day you win some, lose some…”

Konye started planning for the Paris Olympics immediately Kenya qualified in September last year by winning the Rugby Africa Sevens tournament in Harare.

“I was in Zimbabwe (in 2020) when we qualified to play in the last Olympics in Tokyo and, again, I committed myself that I was going to these Paris Olympics since I had seen them qualify in Zimbabwe again in September last year. 

Just how much did he set aside for the trip?

“Sometimes it’s hard to know… I look for the cheapest flight that I can find and we co-share accommodation with a few people that we are travelling with…” the medic explains.

“It probably would be in the realm of 3,000 to 4,000 Euros (Sh421,000 to Sh562,000) and that’s just for transport and accommodation, before counting the amount of money one spends on food and drinks, which is a lot!

“I would probably say an easy 5,000 Euros (Sh700,000)… I haven’t looked at my numbers yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more than that…”

Outside Gate ‘D’ at the Stade de France that’s hosting rugby matches and the athletics programme, a Kenyan bar welcomes patrons with a large banner reading “Team Kenya” and the trending ‘Anguka Nayo’ song blasting from giant speakers.

This is the meeting point for Kenyan fans after the action, alongside the Kenya House and African Village located elsewhere in the city.

John Kimani has lived in France for the last 15 years and has been key in putting together Kenyan events across France and Europe.

He tells Daily Nation that he’s putting together entertainment for Kenyans following the Olympics, noting that most of the Kenyans at the Olympics have come from the United Kingdom and USA alongside parts of Europe.

“I’m waiting for the musicians – Mugiithi artiste Waithaka wa Jane and Ohangla star Emma Jalamo – to get their visas from the French embassy in Nairobi and then I can start publicizing the concerts,” Kimani noted yesterday.

Like Konye, UK-based Evans Mbugua follows “Shujaa” on the global circuit and is here too for the Olympics.

“I have been a sports fan right from primary school at Westlands Primary School, to high school at Dagoretti High and university at USIU,” he tells me.

“What motivates me to follow the team is my love for my country… I follow them to Montevideo in Uruguay, Malaga in Spain, Dubai, Singapore, London and wherever they go because I love my country and my country is a beautiful country.”

Certainly music to the ears of Kenya’s ambassador to France Betty Cherwon who, for the last few weeks, has been busy welcoming Kenyan visitors to Paris.

“Our athletics stars, led by multiple world record holder and Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon, have finally landed in Paris this (yesterday) morning… I’d like to encourage Kenyans in France, across Europe and from back home to make their way to the Stade de France to cheer our athletes as the athletics programme starts this weekend,” she said yesterday.

“It has been amazing to see Kenyans cheer all our athletes from the swimming pool, to the volleyball courts, rugby grounds and fencing competitions.”

Certainly, the tough economic conditions back home in Kenya have made it more difficult for fans to spare over Sh500,000 to travel to the Olympic Games, the world’s greatest sporting festival.

But the super fans won’t let such an opportunity slip their grasp!