Ever since Argentine footballers made nauseating remarks about players of African origin in the Frech squad, the Albiceleste athletes have been greeted by a chorus of whistles at many Olympic venues.
It's not the sweetest sound on the Olympic playlist. For the past six days, every time an athlete from the Argentinian delegation has taken to the stage, he or she has been booed and whistled at, more or less loudly. On the water of the opening parade, on the sand of beach volleyball, on the earth of Roland-Garros, on the grass of the Stade de France or Geoffroy-Guichard, as well as in the gloomy sheds of handball, table tennis and volleyball at Porte de Versailles, the echoes return strident notes to the call to the board of the slightest Albiceleste jersey.
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A form of "bashing" motivated, according to initial investigations, by the nauseating behaviour and words of the world and South American champion footballers.
It all started with rugby 7s, the first discipline in the competition, on July 24 at the Stade de France. In their opening match against... Kenya, the Pumas were shown a straight red card by the stands of the grand stadium.
And not because they were among the main rivals of Antoine Dupont and his team-mates. " We got whistled at right from the start of the tournament without really knowing why, whether it was because of what happened in soccer or something else," confirmed Pumas center Santiago Mare.
"We weren't on the boat (for the opening ceremony) because we had to be ready to play the next day, even if it didn't really work out for us (we lost 3-0 to the USA), but we heard and saw on TV that there had been whistles. There were also whistles in rugby and handball," said volleyball player Luciano Palonsky on Saturday.
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When flag-bearer Luciano De Cecco and his team-mates took to the Taraflex in Arena 6 at the Parc des Expositions, they got a life-size demonstration of this. Their presentation was greeted by loud boos fifty minutes before kick-off of the match against the USA. This came from the stands, which were far from full at the time. This background noise prompted the announcer to respond with a pacifying announcement: "We know you're disappointed by the outcome of some matches and we'd like to ask you to cheer on the teams, thank you. "
The request had the desired effect. The whistles got quieter and quieter as the evening progressed. " I don't think it's that serious. In sport, sometimes you're liked, sometimes you're not," smiled Palonsky, former receptionist for Tours, who was no more perturbed than that by the hostility.
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On all the pitches frequented by the Argentinians, the more or less loud broncas of the first moments have mostly calmed down, except in soccer. Already booed on Wednesday against Morocco in Saint-Étienne in a match that ended in confusion and lost 2-1, the Argentinians were booed again on Saturday in Lyon against Iraq (3-1), before, during and after the warm-up, and throughout the match.
Coach Javier Mascherano refused to get ahead of himself in anticipation of a possible clash with France in the quarter-finals. " We have to play Ukraine first (this Tuesday), it will be a final for us. We're not thinking about the next round," he said, before brushing aside a question about the hostile environment.
On the stadium forecourt in Décines, a few French spectators took it upon themselves to whistle at the Argentinians, who have become enemies of French soccer, and to support Iraq for the occasion. But a priori, no clashes between fans were reported.
Franco-Argentine relations turned stormy this summer. The bad manners of Argentine footballers towards Kylian Mbappé's team during the celebrations following their victory in the 2022 World Cup final even took an openly racist turn after the Copa America victory.
Two weeks ago, midfielder Enzo Fernandez posted a song online mocking the African origins of French players, provoking an outcry in Hexagone and official protests from the French Federation for " unacceptable and discriminatory racist remarks. " The FFF has also referred the matter to FIFA, while Chelsea have announced disciplinary proceedings against their midfielder.
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It's more of a football thing," remarks former tennis pro Florencia Labat, who is accompanying the Argentinian delegation to Paris. For us, it's normal, fans chanting at the opposing team. We're used to it. As far as I'm concerned, it's not racist. They even do it with players from their own team, calling them names and all that. It's not as serious as all that," she moderates. Not sure that will convince the players targeted by the chant and the French public.
The Argentine athletes don't seem affected by the hostile tribunes, which were not included in their preparation memo. The Argentine Olympic Committee has not responded to requests for comment. And it remains to be seen whether existing tensions will remain at the tolerable limit in the event of decisive medal confrontations between the French and Argentinians. " In tennis, there are no problems between us. We haven't had any problems since we've been here, in any case, and we're having a great time," adds Labat.
Some have even received a lot of love in the Olympic Village. Handball player Pablo Simonet took advantage of the delegation's official photo to propose to his girlfriend Maria Pilar Campoy, a midfielder for the Leonas field field hockey team. And of course, the audience applauded.
(L'Équipe)
