At the 2024 Olympics, athletes will compete in the some of the same places once frequented by French kings and Impressionist painters… and ambassadors, too! Few Americans loved the City of Light as much as Jefferson did during his five years there.
“A strong body makes a strong mind," he wrote. He was as passionate about exercise as he was about Paris-- you can’t pursue happiness without it. With that in mind, here are a few spots (and sports) from the Paris Olympics with a TJ connection.
OPENING CEREMONY
The games open with a procession of boats down the Seine. Jefferson used to prowl the river’s banks, looking for books and other deals. He loved to spend afternoons walking through Paris—he swore that walking kept him “healthy and long lived.” As the boats draw closer to the Eiffel Tower, check out the Hotel de Salm on the Left Bank. TJ took inspiration from it to build Monticello.
When you watch the procession, see if you can spot the OG Monticello!
BASKETBALL AT THE PLACE DE LA CONCORDE
Jefferson would be flabbergasted to see this historic plaza hosting 3 X 3 basketball, skateboarding, and breakdancing. In 1789, he witnessed a skirmish between royal troops and revolutionaries there, one of the earliest clashes of the French Revolution. Later on, the guillotine stood in this square. How could such a bloody spot turn into a sports venue? Maybe it’s fitting—Jefferson did think that ball games were too “violent.”
MARATHON AT THE HOTEL DE VILLE
The marathon kicks off at Paris’s historic Hotel de Ville, now its city hall. Here, in 1789, Jefferson witnessed Lafayette march into the city at the head of the newly formed citizen militia, another early event in the Revolution. Lafayette spied TJ’s daughter Patsy in the crowd and stopped to tip his hat. The Games’ weird mascot is inspired by the red Phrygian caps worn by the Revolutionaries.
The marathon will go near the Palais Royal as it retraces the famous women’s march on Versailles of 1789.
TENNIS AT ROLAND GARROS
Jefferson received “a pair of Racketts for playing Tennis” in 1789, but there’s no proof that he ever used them. The sport was all the rage in Paris, though. In fact, the French Revolutionaries took over an indoor tennis court to meet when they were kicked out of the palace of Versailles.
EQUESTRIAN AT VERSAILLES
Along with walking, this was TJ’s other favorite form of exercise (aside from wine tasting). An “uncommonly fine rider,” his horsemanship once saved him from prison or worse. When the British charged up Monticello Mountain during the American Revolution, he fled on the fleet horse Caractacus through the woods to safety.
Jefferson rode his entire life—even while President.
MODERN PENTATHLON AT VERSAILLES
TJ, that Renaissance Man, would surely have loved this mix of disciplines. And he would have been familiar with all the sports-- fencing, shooting, running, equestrian jumping, and swimming. Here was a true “modern” sport, he’d no doubt think. He spent plenty of time in the gardens of Versailles, where the events will take place.
En garde!
RACE WALKING AT THE PONT D’IENA
“The object of walking is to relax the mind,” Jefferson wrote. He walked four or five miles a day when the weather in Paris was fair. The obsessive TJ even tracked his pace (a 14:27 minute mile). Someone get this man on Strava!
Among Jefferson’s many talents, weightlifting was not one of them, as evidenced by his four-pound dumbbell.
Picture from the TJ Foundation collection.
THE MEDAL PODIUM
Who would he root for? America for the gold, of course! He always saw our country as “the world’s best hope.” He would be fervently against Britain—and probably shocked that, centuries later, they still had a king in place to attend the ceremonies.
But for the silver medal, there’s no question. “In what country on earth would you rather live? - certainly in my own,” he wrote. “Which would be your second choice? - France.”
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