The cold shower. A little less than four in ten French people (37%) say they are waiting “with a lot” or “a little impatience” for the Olympic Games which will take place in Paris between July 26 and August 11. The result of this Viavoice* survey, revealed Monday during the Journalism Conference in Tours, shows the lack of enthusiasm the event arouses among the general public.
Should we be worried a few months before the start of the sporting festivities? Organizing the Olympics no longer interested many cities in the world: Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028 ended up being the only candidates in the running. Now the passion for one of the biggest sporting events seems to be dormant among the population.
One in five French people never follow sport
Thus, 57% of respondents are waiting with “little” or “no impatience” for the high mass of sport, organized in Paris for the first time in a century. Interest is still a little less pronounced for the Paralympic Games, which arouse the impatience of only 30% of respondents.
These results are part of a broader investigation into the relationship between public opinion and sports journalism, the central theme of the Conference organized in Tours this week, an Olympic year.
According to this study, less than half of those surveyed (45%) regularly find out about sport and its news and 35% “rarely”, while 20% “never” follow sport. Unsurprisingly, the most followed sport is football, cited by 43% of the 353 respondents following a particular sport almost daily, far ahead of rugby (15%) and tennis (7%).
Another lesson: 76% of respondents believe that sports journalists should be neutral and not show their preference. But the situation changes when French teams or athletes are in the running, with 45% of respondents expecting journalists and commentators to “be supporters” and “show their preference”.
* Survey carried out among a sample of 1,001 people, representative of the population aged 18 and over residing in mainland France, using the quota method. Interviewed online from February 29 to March 4 for this study carried out for France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde and Ouest-France.
