Current:Home > FinanceMeet the painter with the best seat at one of Paris Olympics most iconic venues -Global Capital Summit
Meet the painter with the best seat at one of Paris Olympics most iconic venues
View
Date:2025-04-16 21:18:34
PARIS — Peter Spens has the best seat in the house.
Spens, a London-based painter, has spent the past eight days at the Paris Olympics in a perch atop the media standard high above the beach volleyball court at Eiffel Tower Stadium overlooking the famous French landmark.
For the third consecutive Olympics, the International Volleyball Federation (FIBV) has commissioned Spens to paint a mural of one of the game’s fastest growing and most popular sports.
Spens started drawing this year’s painting last Friday and has been at the venue ever since, using oil paint to add striking detail to his work. Two-man teams from the U.S. and France play on a rectangular court as a yellow-coated security guard watches from the tunnel. A fan waves an American flag in the stands, another occupies a walkway waving a French flag. The Olympic rings show through the tower in the backdrop.
➤ Get Olympics updates in your texts! Join USA TODAY Sports' WhatsApp Channel
2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.
"It’s complex," Spens said Friday during a break from painting. "It’s like a 14-day game of chess. And the subject matter’s definitely the grandmaster."
➤ The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
On Friday, during a three-set game between France's Clemence Vieira and Aline Chamereau and Czechia’s Barbora Hermannova and Marie-Sara Stochlova, Spens worked primarily on the crowd section that he called "by far" the painting's most complex.
A day earlier, it was the lower quarter of the painting, where tabled officials and scoreboard operators sit during the match. Since it’s a morning painting, Spens said he will dedicate next week to finishing the tower, when most of the beach volleyball competition moves to the evening.
When he’s done, the painting will hang at FIBV headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Eventually, every beach volleyball winner will receive a signed print.
"It’s nice," Spens said. "It’s like for two weeks every four years I become a beach volleyball painter."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
veryGood! (6323)
Related
- Scoot flight from Singapore to Wuhan turns back after 'technical issue' detected
- Kate Somerville Spills the Secret to Looking Younger Instantly & It's Super Easy
- Why Victoria Beckham Is Stepping Out at Paris Fashion Week With Crutches
- Returning to Ukraine's front line, CBS News finds towns falling to Russia, and troops begging for help
- Meta releases AI model to enhance Metaverse experience
- Millie Bobby Brown Puzzles Fans With Her New Accent
- 'Goodnight, Odie:' Historic Odysseus lunar lander powers down after a week on the moon
- Ayesha Curry Is Pregnant, Expecting Baby No. 4 With Husband Stephen Curry
- What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
- Reports: 49ers promoting Nick Sorensen to DC, add ex-Chargers coach Brandon Staley to staff
Ranking
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- 10,000 cattle expected to be slaughtered by the Smokehouse Creek Fire, reports say
- Jury convicts first rioter to enter Capitol building during Jan. 6 attack
- This week on Sunday Morning (March 3)
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Missouri police charge man with 2 counts first-degree murder after officer, court employee shot
- These Cute Swimsuits From Amazon Are All Under $40 & Will Have You Ready for a Beach Day
- Warby Parker offering free solar eclipse glasses ahead of 'celestial spectacle': How to get them
Recommendation
Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
House Republicans demand info from FBI about Alexander Smirnov, informant charged with lying about Bidens
An arrest has been made in the slaying of a pregnant Amish woman in Pennsylvania
Kindness across state lines: Immigrants' kids in Philly are helping migrants' kids in Texas
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
Does Lionel Messi speak English? Inter Miami teammate shares funny Messi story on podcast
Removed during protests, Louisville's statue of King Louis XVI is still in limbo
Millie Bobby Brown Puzzles Fans With Her New Accent