Jean Giraudoux and sport: Come and attend a cycle of exchanges with Annie Besnard from the J. Giraudoux Academy. Topics: - Observation of the sporting gesture - Reflection around the sporting spectacle and competition - Women’s sport - The contribution of the practice of sport to the harmonious development of the human being and its integration into society. Jean Giraudoux is, in his literary work, an observer of the sporting gesture and the promoter of a sporting practice which, by harmoniously developing the body and the spirit, contributes to maintain in each individual intellectual qualities and human values. Since his high school years in Châteauroux, he regularly engages in several sports activities: running, then tennis or swimming. This experience nourished a reflection on sport, which resulted in a book of maxims, «Le Sport» (1928), and in chronicles published in newspapers (1920-1934), which testify in particular to his lucidity on the problem of amateurism/professionalism. Presenting the theme «Giraudoux et le sport» also shows the evolution of the place of sport in society at the beginning of the 20th century: facing Maurice Barrès who sees in physical exercise only a gesticulation, several sports writers are grouped in an association (Péguy, Alain-Fournier, among others). Then, before the end of the First World War, under the leadership of Alice Milliat, women began to claim sport and competition, despite the resistance of Pierre de Coubertin. Giraudoux allows us to explore the history of sport. He is also a witness of the preparation and conduct of the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924. Indeed, his responsibilities at the Service des Œuvres françaises à l'étranger put him in the position of delegate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the preparation of the Games. In the photo: Jean Giraudoux is on the left, alongside the principal of the high school of Châteauroux, in 1899.