France draw with USA in Rugby Sevens as first games of Paris 2024 get underway
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00:00Ceremonies are Friday, but the games of the 33rd Summer Olympiad are well and truly underway.
00:07Preliminary round matches of men's football kicking it all off with Spain versus Uzbekistan
00:12here in Paris and Argentina against Morocco in Saint-Étienne in the center of France.
00:17The first French athletes to compete were in men's rugby sevens against the United States.
00:23Let's cross to the Stade de France, the national stadium north of the capital in the suburb
00:28of Saint-Denis. Antonia Kerrigan is there. Antonia, the French and the Americans splitting
00:34the points.
00:35Yes, certainly a disappointing result for the French side, who certainly were expecting
00:45not a draw but a victory over the American side, especially because global rugby union
00:52superstar turned his hand to rugby sevens on this occasion for the Olympics and brought
00:59with him a lot of hope, a lot of optimism for this French side. And the French side
01:03is even tipped by some, some analysts who have looked through the French best hopes
01:08for medals, have put rugby sevens as a potential gold. So this is certainly a setback. That
01:13said, it's a group stage match and it's not over yet. Even the group stages, France will
01:19be facing Uruguay later this evening. Of course, rugby seven match is extremely short.
01:24They can have two in one day, apparently, although I wouldn't, rather them than me.
01:28But rugby sevens remains a big hope for France. And of course, victories at this stage and
01:35defeats at this stage do set the tone as we lead into these two weeks of Olympic Games.
01:42Rugby seven tournaments, Antonia, known for their atmosphere, fans who dress up. What's
01:47it been like? Well, numerous French fans are dressed as sort of inflatable cockerels,
01:57numerous French fans in their feathered rooster headdresses. And we've, you know, the overwhelming
02:04French presence, the home advantage is palpable, huge numbers of blues, but yeah, extremely
02:09dressed up. Other than that, you know, we've seen Kenyans, we've seen Irish, Irish fans,
02:13we've seen New Zealand fans all wearing flags. But certainly the biggest, the strongest,
02:19the most powerful atmosphere is from the French fans who are here in number, dressed up and
02:24singing at the top of their lungs. Antonia Kerrigan reporting live outside the French,
02:30the National Stadium of the Stade de France.