Join us for an evening dedicated to the history of the Olympics and the 2024 Paris edition on 16th July.

One week before the scheduled start of the Olympics in Japan, join us to explore the rich history of the Games and the values that they project, learn about their growth and expansion, and the upcoming role of France in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Eric Monnin will discuss the showcase that symbolises the strength and power of competing nations in peacetime. He will also answer all your questions.

This event is organised by the Alliances Françaises in the United Kingdom in collaboration with the University of Franche-Comté and the Academic Olympic Studies and Research Centre.

Click here to watch the replay of this talk

Éric Monnin is a French sports historian and sociologist, specialising in the International Olympic Movement. Associate Professor at the University of Franche-Comté, Monnin is also a former high-level judo athlete ( French school champion) and musician (he performed with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Besançon until 1994). 

His research focuses on the Olympic Movement and Olympic education. This study led him to organise “Olympic Weeks" and “Culture, Sport and Education Days" in schools and universities with the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He participated in the organisation of the Olympic Youth Camp in Sydney (Australia) and Athens (Greece) during the two Olympiads. In October 2006, IOC President Jacques Rogge invited him to Beijing, China, as an IOC expert for the “World Forum on Sport, Education and Culture". 

He intervened as a speaker in 2010 in Beijing , discussing the Union of World Olympic Cities (UWOC), and frequently participates in the work of the International Olympic Academy (IOA) in Olympia (Greece). In 2017 and 2018, he was invited to South Korea by the French Embassy for the Francophonie celebrations (speech at Ewha University) and during the Pyeong Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Monnin has published several books and has been awarded several other medals: Knight of the National Order of Merit, Officer of the Order of Academic Palms, Gold Medal for Youth and Sports, Bronze Medal for Voluntary Military Services.