Mandelieu, from the city of elegant sports to that of outdoor sports.
Within Western memory, it was the Greco-Romans who made games fashionable, and consequently, sport, a term borrowed from English – appearing in the 15th century but not taking on its modern meaning until the 18th – entered the French vocabulary at the beginning of the 19th century. It then meant game, amusement, before covering an infinite number of physical activities in contemporary times.
In Mandelieu-La Napoule, sport in its modern sense was brought into fashion by foreigners who settled here during the 1891th century. It was a socialite sport reserved for the financial, even aristocratic, elite, where elegance and appropriate attire took precedence over exploits. This was the case with golf, introduced by Michael Mikailovitch of Russia with the construction of the Old Course in 1991 and his club. Mandelieu-La Napoule is still the golf town par excellence, boasting two courses, the Old Course and the Riviera Golf de Barbossi, dating from 18, both with XNUMX holes.
This is also the case for rowing, dear to the British, with the creation in the middle of the 1981th century of the Cannes Rowing Club, permanently established in La Napoule in 2004, of which Sébastien Vieilledent, gold medalist in rowing at the Athens Olympic Games in XNUMX, was a member, who trained on the Siagne.
Similarly, horse riding had its heyday at a time when members of high society rode horses daily. This was particularly the case with the creation of a racecourse in the La Minelle district, inaugurated in 1901 by Michael Mikailovitch of Russia. It welcomed horses, elegant ladies, and then punters of all stripes. The Second World War would eventually wipe out its public and, consequently, the racecourse. But the horse is still held in high regard by private owners at the Barbossi estate.
Who says horses also says polo players who settled in 1908 in Les Termes but who, nowadays, have left Mandelieu to settle in Puget-sur-Argens where this sport is still very popular.
Other sports were established here, especially from 1926 when the Mandelieu Sports Union was founded, which initially focused on football before integrating athletics and then gymnastics, volleyball and pétanque in a mini-stadium on the banks of the Riou de l'Argentière. All have many practitioners and pétanque is not left out with the assiduity of hundreds of bowlers and the existence of three bowling alleys at their service, the Rolland de Toni near the Parc des Oliviers, the Marcel Terrats in La Napoule and the Place Jeanne d'Arc in Capitou. Achille Zavatta was a fervent follower here. Archery, with his company, has been training champions since 1970, such as Bryan Bedrossian, French champion 2022. From now on, sporting activities are open to all, whether collective or individual. As for high-level athletes, some come regularly to train here, such as sprinter Mickaël Zézé who is accumulating records in the 60, 100 and 200 meters.
