PARIS: Vivianne Robinson was first bitten by the Olympics bug at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Four decades on, the Santa Monica native is soaking up the sporting extravaganza at her seventh Games, in Paris.

Robinson, 66, worked two jobs to save up the $10,000 she has spent on tickets to the opening ceremony and three dozen sporting events. When she’s not cheering on competitors from the stands, she can be found on the Champs Elysees, decked out in a patchwork Olympics-themed tracksuit.

Wearing a bucket hat with Eiffel Tower figurines and waving flags from different host countries, the Olympics superfan greets volunteers and tourists, some of whom recognise her from her viral TikTok videos.

“You actually meet more people when you’re dressed like this,” Robinson told Reuters on the boutique-lined avenue as she posed for selfie requests from fans. “I get to meet the world this way.”

For eight years, Robinson sold rice grain necklaces by day and bagged groceries by night to fund her Olympic habit.

After Los Angeles, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, London and Rio de Janeiro, she wasn’t going to miss Paris. The costliest event she forked out for in Paris? The opening ceremony, for which she paid $1,600 for a premium seat on a bridge over the River Seine to follow the flamboyant show, the first of its kind to be held outside a stadium.

“It started pouring rain, which is okay, I don’t mind the rain, but the problem was that I didn’t get to see anything. They had only a big television screen. So I paid 1,600 dollars to look at a television. Little bit disappointing,” she said.

To bolster her chances of success in the ticket draw, she used the names of her mother and sister. Now she has tickets to more events that she can follow. But Simone Biles was a must-see.

A huge credit card bill awaits Robinson upon her return home, she said. But it is a price worth paying.

“You just can’t be in a better place in the world, just to be surrounded by athletes and tourists and monuments and just the fun of the Games, she said.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2024