“I was a bit disappointed” – Celine Boutier says ‘nobody institutionally sung’ the French national anthem to welcome Victor Perez at Le Golf National
Celine Boutier, who is gearing up to play for the French team in the women's golf event at the Paris Olympics this week, has arrived at Le Golf National. The men's golf event concluded on Sunday, August 4 with Scottie Scheffler winning the gold medal for the USA.
Home hero Victor Perez also performed exceptionally well, finishing strongly in the final round.
As Boutier prepares for the women's event, she shared her experience of watching the men's finale, mentioning that she was "actually going to sing" the French national anthem on the first tee as Perez teed off, but was disappointed to see that "nobody institutionally sung it." She said (via ASAP Sports):
"I was actually going on the first tee to be able to sing "La Marseillaise" because I wanted to sing it on the first tee and then nobody institutionally sung it on the first tee. I was a bit disappointed. But it was super cool - actually, I didn't even see anything because there was too many people."
"It was better when I watched it on TV like on the screen. It was really cool to be able to see it and experience it. I think they told us we have to expect a lot - the next few days. We definitely didn't hear that in Evian [Resort Golf Club that hosted the 2024 Evian Championship last month]," she added.
Boutier will represent France alongside Perrine Delacour. Victor Perez and Matthieu Pavon represented the host nation in the men's event. Perez delivered a phenomenal performance, especially in the last two rounds, and narrowly missed a bronze medal, by a single stroke. Meanwhile, Pavon had a challenging outing and finished in 58th position.
Celine Boutier impressed by Victor Perez's performance at the Paris Olympics
Celine Boutier enjoyed watching Victor Perez play at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The home crowd was also loud and cheered enthusiastically for the star player.
In a pre-tournament press conference for this week's women's event, Boutier revealed that she had watched Perez on the first tee and was thrilled to see the large crowd cheering for him, adding that she hopes to perform well in the women's event herself.
"Yeah, it was cool to see what Victor did and the crowd went crazy. It was really fun to see. Hopefully, we also get some crowds next week. But yeah, definitely nice to see that ahead of time, so, like Perrine said, you can prepare yourself psychologically," she said.
Perez had a tough start at the Paris Olympics, with rounds of 70 and 67. He then shot a 68 in the third round. However, the French golfer put up an outstanding performance in the final round on Sunday, August 4. He started with a birdie on the sixth hole and added two more birdies on the front nine. On the back nine, he shot four birdies and an eagle, securing fourth place on the leaderboard.
The women's golf event will take place from August 7 to 10 at Le Golf National.