VANITY FAIR

By Chiara De Col | August 9, 2024

All the magic of polo at the Paris 2024 Games

Exactly 100 years after the last challenge that took place during the 1924 Olympics, the USA and France returned to the polo fields for a celebratory match. Of this sport and its unmistakable style, signed by the U.S. Polo Assn.

Beyond the Olympics that are animating the heart of Paris, beyond the sports competing for the coveted medals, there is more. Fans who follow polo will know it, and those who don't know it well will find out now, but on the occasion of the 33rd edition of the Olympic Games, not many kilometers from the Eiffel Tower, a historic match was held, or rather, a heartfelt and long-awaited rematch. 100 years after the match held in 1924, in the setting of the previous Olympics hosted on French soil (before polo was no longer counted among the Olympic sports), the United States and France are back in the saddle for a new, exciting challenge.

The American team prevailed, even after a century, triumphing in the heart of the Polo Club du Domaine de Chantilly with a score of 10-7 during a free event open to enthusiasts and beginners, presented by the U.S. Polo Assn., the official brand of the United States Polo Association, which provided the competition shirts to the athletes on horseback. Not only that: the U.S. Polo Assn. wanted to shine a spotlight on this ancient sport, which is commonly thought to be full of charm and elegance, through this day.

” Today we made history by organizing a one-of-a-kind event that hasn't happened in 100 years,” U.S. Polo Assn. President and CEO J. Michael Prince, whom we had the pleasure of meeting on the sidelines in Chantilly, enthusiastically tells us. ”We are honored to be able to host such an event that is not just a game, but an opportunity to be together, to bring families and people together, as the brand itself aims to do.”

Polo as a sport and the brand that Prince leads are closely connected, «we like to say that sport, what you see on the field, is the first source of inspiration for what you wear off the field too. We like to create timeless garments and accessories, in classic American style, relaxed but refined. To keep up with trends we offer different colors and look & feel, but at the base there is always the couple, the one formed by a polo shirt and a pair of jeans, which never goes out of fashion».

An ancient and elegant sport, we were saying, captivating and not only: one of the characteristics that few underline is the ability of this sport to include. This is demonstrated by the public as varied as the teams themselves, formed as the code of this sport requires, by men and women who compete together. An extremely rare characteristic in sports, which 21-year-old Hope Arellano, member of the American team on the field in Chantilly, describes as ”unique but natural, something I don't think about often because the union with my teammates is equal, we play at the same level, there is a lot of space for women in this sport ”.

Arellano has been practicing this sport since childhood, thanks to a long family tradition. ”Polo can't be explained, it's a mix of emotions, from the emotion of racing to the love of horses. It's like a big extended family with which you move, travel to distant places, always feeling welcome, always finding friends everywhere. Wherever you go, you always find someone to welcome you.”

https://www.vanityfair.it/article/tutta-la-magia-del-polo-ai-giochi-di-parigi-2024