In the 1930s, sports became an inspiration for some extreme right-wing writers. Montherlant is seen playing football, cheered by Montherlant. The non-sporting Frenchman only lifts his elbow. The ball is red, which is why there is wine in it. Instead of swimming laps at the municipal pool, this pitiful character lingers at the café. His body only serves him to enjoy without effort.
I glance through a Drieu La Rochelle from 1941, written in 1940: “Notes to understand the century” (Gallimard). After mocking the French for being fat due to lack of exercise and in undershirts due to lack of elegance, the author informs us about what he calls the “new man.” The one with muscles and no indigestions. We are urged to imitate our German neighbors, so good at walking that they will soon march in Paris. On page 157: “Suddenly, around 1920, emerges the product of sports education developing in Europe for some time: the fascist, the Hitlerian.” Barely had the Germans entered France than Drieu offered them his collaboration out of admiration for sports. As a stage, he was offered the NRF, where he would fence for a while against tricky opponents: famous French writers.
For a long time outdated, sports are now in fashion, to the point that criticizing them will classify you as in the category of inhuman monsters. The footballer is celebrated, the basketball player has a legend, the skier is irreplaceable, the tennis player has grace, but the one who surpasses them all is the amateur cyclist. His dark air indicates he will soon run a red light. He has the arrogance of athletes who do not intend to miss their training. They speed along beside cars that are no longer mobile.
The most beautiful spectacle in the world: a ponytail where there is no ponytail and there is no horse. It belongs to a runner who will change shoes upon arriving at the office. The values of sports are different from those of waged work. In the 1970s, the fight against capitalism was characterized by the contempt for athletes, except in certain leftist circles where boxing and karate followed demonstrations. This discipline we thought we were rid of is now back to annoy us. The fear of exclusion among rugby players: claiming they owe everything to their team. In ancient Greek religion, there was only one sin: narcissism, accompanied by a lot of flexibility.
