A Final Olympic Episode

And a Summer Recipe

I worry a bit that news of Paris 2024 is on overkill, yet it’s just all so much fun and exciting that I have a final episode for you, from my personal Paris 2024.

I’m not much of a sports fan, which is the understatement of the century, but when I was invited to the Team USA House Saturday by a friend of mine, Brian Boitano (figure skating gold medalist Olympics 1988 and all-around lifetime medal winning legend), I landed in the middle of sports central.  Housed in the gorgeous Palais Brongniart, TEAM USA House was, and will be for the Paraolympics, open to the paying public, and a place to join fellow American sports fans.  Brian was a host for several days, and graciously showed me around, stopping for a minute at the TEAM USA shop to insist that this was the place to buy swag and not the giant swag-store on the Champs Elysees with its kilometer-long line to get in. 

We mingled and when he went to do some official on-stage hosting, I mingled some more, feeling like a total imposter.  I knew I needed a prop and so got a glass of champagne from the bar, something I know how to do, and placed myself near a healthy, robust American family, all with the whitest of teeth.  They belonged to a member of the water polo team, there to support him and take full advantage of the Games.

I was enthralled.  By the dedication of this family and their friends who had joined them, by the men’s volleyball team whose members were roaming around, lean and gawky giants all, bedecked with their bronze medals which, on such long and lanky frames looked like pennies. 

I found myself near a trio of muscle-bound men who turned out to be legends (Maurice Green, a gold at Sydney in 2000, and a bronze at Athens 2004; Henry Cejudo, youngest wrestler to win a gold medal in 2008 Olympics in Beijing and their pal, Captain, who didn’t divulge his role, but I’m sure he’s a medalist or a trainer) and I was awestruck.  I think it showed because they offered to include me in a photo.

 I met the warm and wonderful Rowdy Gaines (1984 gold medalist in the 100-meter freestyle and two gold medals for relays) who recounted the jaw-dropping story of retrieving his stolen gold medal (above) from the thief in a dark back alley, where he managed to get a discount on the ransom. 

There were so many more Americans and stories at this spot, from an immunologist who has worked on the molecule that may keep alzheimers at bay and who was sent to the Games by his company, sponsor Eli Lilly, to a stay-at-home dad with two sports-bound daughters there to soak up the atmosphere and ambition, and so many past, present, and future Olympians.  It’s a heady spot, because you don’t know who you will run into there.

What struck me most about the crowd and the atmosphere, so foreign to me, was best put by Thomas Bach, head of the International Olympic Committee, in his closing speech.  He called the games an opportunity to celebrate “the culture of peace” and he might have added, the benefits of sheer and innocent enthusiasm, which may be part of that culture.  There we all were at the TEAM USA house, people of every age, size, color, and a sprinkling of many cultures too, rooting, sharing stories, shaking hands with strangers all around.  It echoed the feeling of Paris for the past 19 days.

When the festivities were winding down so were we, and after a late-night supper of steamed mussels, we parted ways.  But not for long because we were hemmed in by the “Marathon Pour Tous,” a new event dreamed up by Paris 2024.  Forty thousand people were chosen to participate, and it took them many hours to do the official Olympic route, which blocked entry to almost every bridge crossing the Seine, including ones I needed to cross to get home, and Brian’s path to his hotel. Athlete that he is, a couple of vaults and pirouettes and Brian was on the other side. For me, a trip that would normally take me 23 minutes took me almost two hours, but it was a very special two hours as I watched, once again, a huge mixité, or blend, of people out to run a midnight marathon.

There is a French term to describe such an event, “bon enfant,” which means good natured.  Surely there was plenty of competitive spirit present, but mostly it was runners with smiles as wide as Broadway being cheered by crowds that mirrored them.  I couldn’t get across them, or go through them, so instead I cycled alongside in my own mini version of the people’s marathon.  It was all just part of the magic.

Here is a perfect French summer recipe, to celebrate the feeling!

MUSSELS WITH CREAM - MOULES A LA CREME

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 bay leaves                                                                                       

4 parsley sprigs

10 peppercorns

20 sprigs fresh thyme

2 shallots, minced

½ cup (125ml) dry white wine or water

4 quarts (liters) mussels

3/4 cup (185ml) crème fraîche or heavy cream

Freshly ground black pepper

1.  Place the onion, bay leaves, parsley sprigs, peppercorns, thyme, shallots, and the white wine in a large pan, and bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat.  Let cook for about 6 minutes, until the mixture is almost dry.

2.  While the herbs and wine are cooking, de-beard the mussels and rinse them thoroughly, then add to the wine and herb mixture.  Cover and cook, shaking the pot regularly, until the mussels are open.  Cook the mussels for another minute.  Discard any mussels that don’t open, then transfer them to a large serving bowl and keep them warm.

3.  Whisk the crème fraîche into the cooking juices in the pan and bring just to the boil.  Remove from the heat, and strain the liquid over the mussels.  Season them with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper, and serve.

6 servings