Paris 1924. As we mentioned at the beginning, it was the second Paris Olympics in 1924 (the first had been in 1900) that saw the largest Basque participation of all time, although 21 of the 35 athletes were involved in Basque pelota and rugby, which were exhibition sports. Of these, 23 competed under the Spanish flag and the rest under the French flag, with 18 competing in pelota, eight in athletics, six in football and three in rugby. Pelota, our most distinctive sport, thus took a great leap forward, but the limited scope in which it is practised to any significant extent prevented it from going any further. Forty-four years later, Mexico would once again be the venue for a larger pelota competition, but again without the Olympic “blessing”, which even in the medium term seems unattainable, except in an exhibition such as the one planned for Barcelona (1992). Pelota managed to make it to the French Olympics, but not without first overcoming a number of difficulties, which were successfully sidestepped, culminating in the construction of a new fronton in Paris, the venue for three matches. The court did not have a left wall, as is customary in frontons on the other side of the “muga”. This did not prevent the pelotaris from the southern Basque Country, representing Spain, from winning all three matches. The fronton was inaugurated on 22 July 1922, in a solemn ceremony attended by the Baroness of Coubertin, wife of the first promoter of the modern Olympic movement, among many other prominent figures. The first match was an exhibition of ‘blé’ two teams flying the French flag. On one side were Harizpe, Magescas and Hirigoyen, wearing red ‘gerriko’. On the other were Stasloveny, Saint-Martin and A. de Soubly, wearing blue. The latter won 60-41. Among the judges was Fernand Forgues, from Aviron Bayonnais, whom we have already mentioned in reference to the Espure Games in Athens (1906). The competitions the teams called France and Spain, all of them made up of Basques, yielded the following results: Mano: Iceta, Ledesma and Gastesi (E.), 45; Doyhénart, Tellaguina and Anchagno (F.), 26. (This match was played immediately after the opening match). Pala: Adamaga Cantalla (E.), 40; Joseph and Battitta Etcheverry (F.), 46. (Held on 23-VII-24). Cesta punta: Sagama, Gárate and Santamaría (E.), 60; Harizpe, Camino and Magescas (F.), 52. (On 24 July 1924). Only the third match was somewhat competitive, although the pelotaris from Southern Euskadi always dominated the scoreboard. The other two, especially the pala match, were clearly dominated by the team from this side of the Bidasoa. There were many laudatory comments and hopes were still high for another appearance in Amsterdam in 1928. Unfortunately, however, they had to wait much longer. The other exhibition sport was rugby, which has deep roots in Iparralde. André Béhoteguy, Adolphe Jaureguy and Jean Etcheberry were part of the French team, which, against all odds, lost to the United States 17-3, although with their victory over Romania (61-3) they took second place. And now we move on to the Olympic sports themselves, starting, of course, with athletics, which on this occasion saw the highest level of participation in the history we are referring to, with a total of eight athletes. Two of them, Félix Mendizábal and Diego Ordóñez, had already been to Antwerp. They were joined by José Andía, author of an unfinished feat that we will recount shortly; José Mari Larrabeiti, Gabino Lizarza, Amador Palma, Miguel Peña and Fabián Velasco. Mendizábal, from Rentería, who had already had a brilliant performance as a sprinter in Antwerp, where he had been a semi-finalist, also performed well this time, winning a heat in the first round of the 100 metres. In the quarter-finals, he finished sixth and was eliminated, with the eventual champion Abrahams among his rivals. Diego Ordóñez was third again in the first round of heats, once more falling just short of advancing to at least one more round. But without a doubt, the most emotional page in this premier Olympic competition was written for Basque sport by José Andía from San Sebastian, who in the gruelling 10,000-metre cross-country event, in the midst of suffocating heat that forced most of the athletes to withdraw, managed to enter the Colombes Stadium in fifth position. However, just 300 metres from the finish line, Andía collapsed from exhaustion and was unable to complete his feat, despite the short distance he had left to go. Other protagonists of what came to be known as the ‘hell of Colombes’ were Fabián Velasco (13th) and Miguel Peña (14th), the latter already in penultimate position. But just finishing was an achievement in itself. The winner was the ‘Flying Finn’ Paavo Nurmi, undoubtedly the most outstanding athlete of the early days of the modern Olympic Games. In the 4 x 300 metre relay, Fabián Velasco and Miguel Peña took part in the first heat, but were unable to finish higher than fourth in their series. José Mari Larrabeiti, meanwhile, competed in the 100 metre sprint, finishing third in the sixth series, which immediately closed the door on him. And in the 4 x 100 relay, with Félix Mendizábal, Diego Ordóñez and the Catalan Junqueras as teammates, they also failed to make it past the initial round. Amador Palma was unable to finish the ‘hellish’ 10,000-metre cross-country race, while Gabino Lizarza was involved in a curious anecdote when he refused to compete in shorts and even threatened to withdraw. Perhaps this incident had a negative effect on his state of mind, as the discus thrower from Guipúzcoa only managed 34.20 metres, an extremely low mark, well below his usual performances. Finally, to conclude this review of the second Olympic Games held on French soil, we must mention football. In this case, their performance was very brief: a single match against Italy, which ended in a 0-1 defeat. And in this case too, the protagonist, albeit an unfortunate one, was Basque. Perico Vallana, the great Arenas defender and the only survivor of the team that had been runners-up four years earlier, scored the decisive goal for Italy with an own goal. Alongside him were Gamborena, Lamaza, José María Peña, Carmelo and Chirri I, meaning that half plus one of the starting line-up were once again of Basque origin.