He struts around the sold-out arena, prowling the floor, basking in the noise and the adulation. In that moment, that first flush of victory, Lebrun is not a bespectacled 17-year-old table tennis player from Montpellier. For everyone present — up to and including the French former soccer hero Zinedine Zidane — he is a rock star. At the fencing competition, held in the lavish surrounds of the Grand Palais, fans waving tricolors have produced enough noise to echo down the Champs-Élysées. The sound from the stadium at Invalides, home to archery, has been loud enough to wake Napoleon.

---

Persons: Félix Lebrun, Lebrun, Zinedine Zidane —, Léon, Napoleon Organizations: Palais, Stade, France Locations: Montpellier, French, Paris, Invalides