I'd say he's "the Basketball guy" in France, like, say, Michael Phelps is "the Swim guy" in the US. Basketball isn't a hugely mediatic sport in France so people know him but he doesn't get that much air time. He still does some ad campaigns.
Unless i missed something, Nicolas Vouilloz, Anne Caroline Chausson and Stéphane Peterhansel are far less popular than Parker!
I'd say he's "the Basketball guy" in France, like, say, Michael Phelps is "the Swim guy" in the US. Basketball isn't a hugely mediatic sport in France so people know him but he doesn't get that much air time. He still does some ad campaigns.
His grill is the first thing you see when arriving in the Zurich airport due to his Tissot sponsorship, fwiw.
The ing Bernard Hinault is popular in France yet?
Depends which France you're talking about
I don't even know who the last 2 are. Peterhansel is somewhat famous, but A LOT less than Tony Parker. Peterhansel wouldn't even make the top 100 of famous sports people in France.
As I said, Tony Parker is right now the favorite sportsperson in France. Period.
Ask yourself this question: "What American playing sports in an overseas country is very popular?"
None. The NBA is (by far) the most popular worldwide but still not very popular.
Soccer players like Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, are very popular but no one watches them play in Europe.
You could say soccer is not that popular in America but neither is basketball in France. You could say they're not the best players in the world but neither is Tony Parker.
To be more acurate, the question should be "Is Parker the most popular athlete in France last week?" If France had won the world cup, if some french had won 'Le Tour', if some french driver had won a Formula 1 gp last week probably not. But the only frenchman to win something in the last months, Tony Parker is the most popular athlete right now.
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And Michael Jordan is the most popular american athlete by far. I don't think Le Bron is nowhere popular as Jordan is, even nowadays.
Nope. The most famous and favorite sportsperson in France right now is Zlatan.
He is the last French to have won the 3rd biggest sport event in the world so yeah he is freaking popular
he is not even close to be top 3 all time...
There are a lot of guys ahead of him in terms of all time popularity
Zidane / Platini
Noah (Tennis)
Serge Blanco
Prost
Loeb
Hinaut
Perec
Tabarly
Cerdan
Douillet / Rinert
Jean Claude Killy
Just on top of my head... I'm sure there are more
... this one is awesome...
No Nelson Piquet? wtf?
forgot he was French tbh
Probably because he isn't French![]()
probably![]()
I'm not sure he is that popular. I mean, Poulidor is probably more popular than Hinault.
of course he is that popular...
we are talking about the generation of our parents and even youngs that are following or practicing bike race. Hinaut is still present in the tour de France organisation as a VIP and still drains around him tons of people for autograph, interviews and such he is a force in that in the biking world. His declarations a couple of years ago about the young French generation that spend their time complaining instead of working their ass off... trolled the out of the media and people involved in that world. Dude is still selling books about him and his carreer. People don't give a about Poulidor opinions... Dude is seen as the eternal second guy, he is a nice character of the French sport but he has no impact whatsoever.
Lance Armstrong had all his success in France and he was very popular in the US, no?
I totally agree with you. Hinault is one of the most respected sportsman in France. He is the only alive French Champion with 5 tours de France under his belt, so when he speaks, people listen.
But IMO Poulidor, as well as Anquetil, are much more anchored in the French popular culture. This was the golden era of French biking. Hinault was an amazing champion, probably the greatest French Biker ever but Poulidor vs Anquetil... it went beyong Sport
No Ayrton Senna too.
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I see you mean... about Poulidor vs Anquetil. At that time you are right, popularity of Poulidor was off the chart and way above Hinault's popularity peak. It's very French to love the "beautiful losers" and the losing "panache". That's why Poulidor was and is more popular than Anquetil. In the long run tho Hinault is way more impactful... Hinault is the Jean Gabin to Poulidor Defunes.
Times are changing a bit... Parker is getting a lot of love for being a winner which is not very French.
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