U.S. athletes gearing up for the Olympics or Paralympics in Paris hope to practice French, savour fresh baguettes or get lost in the Louvre … and win a gold medal.

For some of them, Paris means a return to familiar places or a chance to visit with extended family or special friends. “My husband’s French, my nanny’s French, my son is half French,” says Crystal Dunn, one of the Team USA Olympic hopefuls with close ties to France.

If named to the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s 2024 Olympic roster, the defender will likely see her in-laws among the fans filling bleachers at the Games in Paris, which will be held July 26–August 11. (For athletes who competed in empty arenas four years ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fans, whether relatives or not, will be a welcome sight.)

While French is spoken in Dunn’s home, unlike on the soccer field, she struggles to keep up. Her young son has surpassed her own French skills, whilst her husband tells her that her comprehension skills are solid, and she just needs to speak up more. “You gotta put yourself out there,” he coaches the accomplished athlete.

Competing in France will give Dunn (pic. left) the chance to up her language game: She is already offering to help her teammates order food, as long as their orders aren’t too complicated.

Florida-born equestrian Beatrice de Lavalette’s teammates may be able to order even the most complicated dishes. Lavalette (pic. right), who will compete in the Paralympic Games to be held August 28–September 8, learned to ride horses in France and speaks French fluently.

“I’ll be helping the whole team out,” she says. Lavalette’s story is remarkable. In 2016, when she was just 17, she lost both legs in a terrorist bombing at the Brussels airport while waiting to take a flight home.

During months in hospitals, she set goals, including an ambition to compete for Team USA in the Paralympic Games. It took her just six months to return to her studies in the U.S. and four years to compete in the Paralympic Games in Tokyo with her horse Clarc.

Some U.S. athletes are getting to know French culture through competition. Gymnast Yul Moldauer, 27, for instance, has visited France for numerous competitions. He and his teammates will train in Arques in northern France in the lead-up to the Games in Paris.

Moldauer says that, through repeat visits, he has developed a taste for French food, especially thin crust pizza, but is progressing a little more slowly with the language, which he acknowledges doesn’t come easily. Ben Hallock, an American who plays professionally in Europe, is eager to head to Paris as the captain of the U.S. men’s water polo team.

His motivation is strong: He scored four goals in a 2022 loss to France in Strasbourg, in eastern France. “I’m just excited,” Hallock says about the Olympic Games in Paris, which he calls one of the world’s great capitals and “a beautiful city.”