Le Sport- la natation

Ex-Olympic champion Laure Manaudou announced Friday in an interview with Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France that she is going to stop swimming competitively.

At 17, Laure won the 400-meter freestyle in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Her victory gave France its first swimming gold in 52 years. In addition she holds: a silver medal in the 800-meter and a bronze in the 100-meter backstroke. She was also world champion in the 400-meter free swim in 2005.

In the interview, Manaudou reveals the day-to-day pressures and difficulties she has faced. She has slowly come to the decision since her break with her trainer Philippe Lucas in 2007.

"I quit. This hasn't been an easy decision to make," the 22-year-old Frenchwoman stated. "It came to me little by little. I didn't make it on impulse. It has matured slowly."

-david

Check out the latest issue of the French and Italian Department Newsletter

There is a new issue of the French and Italian Department Newsletter up.

In this issue:

• Faculty news
• Study Abroad recap
• Winners announced for the French Writing contest
• Graduate level projects

Take a few minutes and find out what's happening in the department.

View Francaphone news clips online from the BYU HLRC

The HLRC here at BYU has started offering access to international news clips online. Here's how you can get to some French news programs:




1. Go to http://hlrc.byu.edu/media.php
2.Choose "French" under Language pull-down menu.
3. Choose "FRENCH DAILY NEWS BROADCASTS" under the Publication pull-down menu.
4.Choose "French, Belgian, Canadian & Swiss News" under the Chapter pull-down menu.
5.Choose anything under the File pull-down menu (Le Journal TV5 will probably be your best bet).
6. Enjoy!

French Studies Newsletter

Some of you may already know that the French Studies program puts out a monthly newsletter. This newsletter includes a ton of information and news about the program, its students, and the faculty. Its a great resource if you want to know a little more about what's going on and how you can make the best of your time in French Studies.

Here is a link to this month's issue.

Sarkozy and wife divorce

It has recently been confirmed that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife have seperated in an amicable divorce.




Read more here:
Le divorce du couple Sarkozy "s'est très bien passé", selon leur avocate commune

World's First Hybrid Train

Last week the world's first hybrid train made its first voyage between Paris and Troyes. The new train is called the "Bibi" because it is "bi-mode" running on both and diesel engine and an electric motor. It is estimated that these trains will produce 20% less CO2 than their predecessors.



Read more about the "Bibi":
"Bibi" : le premier train hybride au monde inauguré en France

Monet painting damaged

A few nights ago, according to reports, a group of vandals broke into the Musée d'Orsay and left a 10 cm gash in the famous Monet painting Le pont d'Argenteuil. A sad day for Monet lovers everywhere.





Read more about the incident here:
Un Monet très endommagé au musée d’Orsay

XV de France sets its sights on Rugby World Cup

The French rugby team XV de France, otherwise known as "Les Bleus" succeeded in defeating the legendary All Blacks team from New Zealand in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup. This victory in, puts Les Bleus in the Semi-Finals where they will face England, and gets them one step closer to becoming world champions.






Read more about XV de France and their victory below:
Les Raison d'un Succès
Les Bleus ne voulaient pas mourir à Cardiff

The New French Revolution

A couple of days ago, a few people brought to my attention an interesting op-ed piece in The New York Times.

This piece, written by Roger Cohen, gives his opinion on some of the changes we might soon see in the French national culture due to the newly elected President of the Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Read the op-ed piece by Roger Cohen here:
NY Times: The French Revolution

The European Capital of Culture 2013

The process of choosing the two European cities that will hold the title of European Capital of Culture in 2013 has begun.

Based on a predetermined rotation, each year two European nations are set from which that year's capitals will be chosen. The nations for each year are set several years in advance, and in 2013 France and Slovakia will be the nations from which the two cities will be chosen.

Even though the cities will not officially be named the Capitals of Culture until 2013, the process to choose which cities will bear the title has already begun. Seven French cities are being considered for the title: Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Saint-Etienne, Strasbourg and Toulouse.

Each city will submit a dossier promoting itself to the European Commission in November, and the commission will release a short-list of capital candidate cities in December. The final decision will be made by the Commission in summer of 2008.

Read more on the French cities up for the title below:
Le Monde: Sept villes françaises se disputent le titre de capitale européenne de la culture 2013

Presidential Elections in France

The French presidential elections are under way, and the 12 candidates have their respective campaigns under way. Front runners Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal are joined by the controversially uber-conservative Jean-Marie Le Pen in the race to be the next Président de la République.


For more info on the elections and the candidates check out these links:

• Les Affiches de campagne
• Le Monde: Présidentielle 2007
• Election-Politique.com