“In Paris, something may occur,” says Fred Sirieix, laughing, and it’s quickly clear that he’s now not speaking about diving, his Olympic-medal profitable daughter Andrea or certainly his work for the BBC, however an ongoing occasion amongst followers.
“There’s town of affection… that is attractive Paris!” he exclaims. “Folks will meet, they are going to kiss, they are going to make love, folks may have affairs, no one will find out about it! You might be in France. It’s going to be enjoyable, man. And we’re going to eat tremendous effectively.”
To be clear, Sirieix can also be not referring to the a lot maligned athletes’ restaurant within the Olympic Village however the gastronomic competitors on each nook of town which, in his professional opinion, is akin to an Olympic occasion in its personal proper. The star of First Dates and Million Pound Menu additionally has some recommendation for British followers who’ve one other 5 days to go to the French capital earlier than the Video games finish.
“Paris is an amusement park — it’s a pleasure of the senses,” says Sirieix, who has been offering dispatches as a part of the BBC’s Olympic protection between watching his 19-year-old daughter compete. “You simply need to stroll down the road, be a bit savvy, you may clock a very good restaurant from the surface, see the menu, you may possibly see the meals on the plates, in a short time you may put two and two collectively and see if it’s a very good place. Moderately than comply with guides, go randomly on the street. As a rule you should have a very good meal and meet attention-grabbing folks. I do this on a regular basis. It’s enjoyable — you by no means know the place the dialog goes to take you.”
With Workforce GB followers outnumbering everybody in Paris aside from the French themselves, Sirieix, who has lived in Britain since he was 20, additionally hopes that this is usually a second to have a good time and strengthen the Anglo-French axis. He cites a number of the shared historical past, comparable to how the fashionable Olympic Video games have been impressed by Pierre Coubertin’s go to to satisfy William Penny Brooks in Shropshire, and the way Concorde was constructed by producers from Nice Britain and France.
Good bedfellows
“There’s this collaborative spirit and sense of partnership,” he says. “We did the Concorde. Once I grew up [in Limoges], the Concorde was simply French. For the Brits, it was simply Brits, however really it was 50-50.
“There’s a lot that has come from this Franco-British collaboration. There’s a lot inspiration that has come from each nations and I feel the Olympics is a good instance of that; of how we managed to accomplice, do one thing collectively and get impressed by one another.
“I’ve been right here [Britain] 32 years. I really feel very British despite the fact that I’m not formally British. Clearly, I’m very French — my kids maintain reminding me of this: ‘Daddy, why do you communicate like that?’ It’s beautiful to share that French perspective to my fellow Brits in a method that individuals can perceive and get behind the story. I can’t assist however consider London 2012, the way it introduced the nation collectively, the sense of pleasure and belonging that everyone felt. The French wish to do the identical. I used to be in tears on the [London] Opening Ceremony. I‘m cheering on Workforce GB and France.”
And, whereas that has principally been a soothing expertise, he admits that watching his daughter Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix dive produces an entire kaleidoscope of emotion.
