07/30/2024
Not a bad view for some beach volleyball 😍
The Olympics kicked off in Paris on Friday and the city is providing some stunning backdrops for the world’s biggest sporting event.
This 13,000-seat stadium was built specifically for the Olympics at Champ de Mars, a garden where Parisians and tourists typically sit on the grass for picnics or July 14 firework displays.
The site draws hundreds of people on any regular day, but since the start of the Olympics, people buy tickets to beach volleyball matches just to squeeze through crowds of people for the perfect selfies and videos with the tower and sand in the background.
“We don't really follow beach volleyball but we wanted to see the site with the Eiffel Tower,” said Solene Naeye, a local Parisian who came to the spot for pictures. She took in her surroundings and noted the beauty of the moment. “It's a way for us French people to rediscover our city, so that's really nice.”
Matt Knigge, an alternate with the US men's indoor volleyball team, came to the stadium on his night off from training on Sunday.
Knigge, from California, has travelled all over playing volleyball but said he's never seen such an “emblematic” location.
"You're hard-pressed to find anything more beautiful than what we have right now," he said, pointing up at the tower. “The sun is setting in the background. I think if you were writing a fairytale of beach volleyball at the Olympics, this is it.”
