Just different gravy,” he remarks.
“As I ran onto the field for the opening match, I saw 70,000 fans crammed into Stade de France.” I was shivering. It was astounding.”
But when the Paris 2024 gold medal match rolled around three days later, the 24-year-old Londoner had the perfect words.
Regaining possession of the ball, he flicked it to Antoine Dupont and, ten seconds later, collected a return pass to dive over the line for a crucial try.
He yelled into the crowd and pointed down at the turf as he was surrounded by teammates.
Really, I was saying, ‘C’est maintenant!'” indicating that “it’s now!”
You don’t think such stuff just pours out, so I was just thrilled.”
The medal, the momentum, and the moment had all been taken by France. Gold was won by the hosts for the first time in the Games by Grandidier Nkanang, Dupont, and their team—a team that had not even made it to Tokyo.
Turnpike Lane was where Grandidier Nkanang’s lengthy journey to the city of lights began.
In the early 1990s, his French mother Estelle Grandidier and British-Nigerian father Nick Nkanang met in Haringey, north London.
They had moved south of the river by the time Aaron was born, five months into the new millennium, but London was always home.
