It’s a building that no one sees, despite the Matmut advertising sign screwed to its roof. However, motorists taking the A1 motorway towards Lille pass within a few meters of its windows. On the other hand, thousands of spectators at the Stade de France come across it on match nights. The Gai Logis residence, four hundred and eighty inhabitants, has become accustomed to living stuck between these two monsters. Its tenants no longer even notice the irony of its name. This afternoon of April 25, a few grannies stood at the window, smartphone in hand, to capture images of the assembly gathered in front of their homes. You never know, a star may be hiding among the brigade of officials in suits and white sneakers…
We are at “D – 93” before the start of the Olympics. 93, like the department number, for those who do not understand the symbol. Local elected officials and promoters of the competition came to remind us, during a small ceremony, that the region will host around ten events between July 26 and August 11. No magazine star therefore, but the socialist mayor of the city (Mathieu Hanotin), the president of the departmental council of Seine-Saint-Denis (Stéphane Troussel) and the boss of the organizing committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Tony Estanguet). A rather well behaved audience, a little shaken by the rough sound of NTM coming out of the speakers, “based on popopopop”.
Rapper JoeyStarr, native of Saint-Denis, lent his voice to a promotional clip boasting “desire, rage, determination” of the inhabitants of “9-3” – “from the Saint-Denis basilica to the glorious Stade de France, there are legions of us joining the dance”. Integrating the poorest department of mainland France into the celebration is a promise from the organizing committee: the 9 billion euros budget for the Olympic Games could only decently trickle down to Paris. Above all, Saint-Denis and its more than one hundred and ten thousand inhabitants have a key asset: the Stade de France.
This is where athletics, the main event, will take place. There will be the closing ceremony, and perhaps the opening ceremony if security conditions are not met in the heart of the capital, along the Seine. There, finally, lies a bit of the magic of the national story. The curve of its roof has shined like a halo since Zinédine Zidane blessed the scene with two victorious headers in the final of the Football World Cup on July 12, 1998. The stadium was six months old, an age when all the promises are allowed: integrating the suburbs, making it proud, embodying the unity of the country… Many have since disappeared. Which does not prevent them from being repeated, twenty-six years later, with the same decor in the background.
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