VIDEO. Paris 2024 Olympic Games: before the arrival of the flame in the region, diving into the Nicollin Olympic collection

“Loulou” Nicollin à bord de sa voiturette de golf, lors d’une visite avec la famille Diniz en 2014. Midi Libre – Max BERULLIER

Accumulée par “Loulou”, perpétuée par ses fils Laurent et Olivier, la collection des Nicollin fait la part belle aux torches olympiques, quasiment toutes réunies au Mas Saint-Gabriel.

The small road winds not far from Marsillargues, in the middle of the Petite Camargue. In the fields, the bulls and horses pay no attention to the visitors who continue on their way. Up to this anonymous building, at the end of one of the Mas Saint-Gabriel car parks. The clothes do not make the monk, any more than the walls make the cave of Ali Baba. Christian Pelatan, knee creaking but eyes shining like the first day, holds the key to this priceless treasure: the collection of the Nicollin family, one of the largest in the world, of which little is known about the link with the Games Olympics.

"I’discover more", breathes Laurent Nicollin, son of “Loulou” and private guide for a day. After the jerseys of Pelé, Zidane or de la Paillade, the cleats of Di Stefano or the tunics of the All Blacks and the kimonos of Douillet or Riner, the Olympics are jumping in the face. At the end of the dizzying array of pieces amassed by the founder of Montpellier HSC, an alcove is dedicated to them. For an almost unique spectacle: 29 Olympic torches, including 20 from the Summer Games, are suspended from the ceiling, queens enthroned in the middle of an accumulation of medals, diplomas and posters from the Games.

"When people visit, we don't tell them there are the torches. And when they discover them, it's truly a wonder", enthuses Christian Pelatan, “conservative” of this museum of another kind and "true memory", according to Laurent Nicollin.

"Like the jerseys, the torches had to have been worn"

The man, in charge of monitoring and arranging the collection, is unbeatable. The anecdotes unfold. It shows the very first Olympic torch, that of 1936 and the Berlin Games played at the beginning of Nazi Germany: "It’s an idea of ​​a Hitler's minister, Carl Diem, unfolds Christian Pelatan, showing the object, all bare metal, crossed out with an eagle. At the start, there is nothing Olympic about it.

The famous torch from the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, the very first. Midi Libre – MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH

Comes the 2012 Tour of London, a sort of golden cone decorated with thousands of holes: "8,000 exactly, for 8,000 porters that year. All flames have their own particularity."

Laurent Nicollin: “We would like people to be able to have access to it”

The Nicollin family collection is almost unique of its kind on the planet. But it is only revealed to a few privileged people, invited to Mas Saint-Gabriel. A regret for Laurent Nicollin: "Here, even if it is called the Louis Nicolin museum, it is not one. It's more of a storage place, a deposit". "We would like people to benefit from this in France, to be able to have access to it", continues the president of the MHSC, whose d&rsquo project ;a sports museum is attached to that of a Louis-Nicollin stadium, the creation of which is constantly postponed. "We'll see if the museum will be built one day, to give back to the people. It would make sense today, for example, for the visit to focus on the theme of the Olympics. But it’s here and it’s a shame", breathes Laurent Nicollin. Which, in the meantime, perpetuates the legacy and completes the collection.

Those of the Nicollin have another, essential in the eyes of the late master of the place, who died in 2017: "They all made the journey, proudly explains M . Pelatan. Unlike the Olympic museum in Lausanne, where there are all the torches, these have burned and are therefore considered “Olympic”." "It’s like for jerseys, they had to have been worn and the athlete must have sweated otherwise it wouldn’ ;rsquo;wasn't a real one", adds Laurent Nicollin.

The youngest son of “Loulou” continues his father’s legacy with his brother Olivier. In the coming weeks, the torches from Tokyo 2021 but also from Beijing and Pyeongchang (winter) will be added to a series of which one of the first pieces was offered by Albert Rust, ex-MHSC goalkeeper Olympic champion in Los Angeles in 1984. "Then we offered others to the president, the prices were not very high. But as the family positioned itself, others became interested", says Mr. Pelatan.

Waiting for Paris 2024

"The president participated in the creation of a lot of sports sales because it didn’not really exist, despite a few at Drouot. Now, it’s happening in Stockholm, in Germany but also in France or Los Angeles, he continues. A market has been created for around fifteen years." With its nuggets, including the Grenoble torch 1968 , almost impossible to find, since only 32 copies were printed, and displayed at exorbitant prices.

The Summer Olympics torches from the Nicollin collection. Midi Libre – MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH

The Nicollin family did not take the plunge but the shopping list is ready, scribbled on a piece of paper taken out by Christian Pelatan: "Oslo , Cortina, Squaw Valley, Grenoble, Innsbruck, Sapporo, Lake Placid and Calgary". The Paris 2024 torch is impatiently awaited. Almost the only thing missing is it in the middle of the Petite Camargue.

Medals, pins… : “Loulou needed everything”

The Olympic torches are not the only ones to adorn “the’Olympic space” from the Nicollin collection."There is Jean Bouin's jersey (from the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm), it’s still fabulous. I still discover more, posters, diplomas, the one from Paris 1924… It’s a hundred years old, has historical value", marvels Laurent Nicollin. In the extension of these walls lined with relics, before the spikes of Usain Bolt worn in Rio in 2016, glass cabinets contain "all the medals, Olympics by Olympics except the one of 1904 (Saint-Louis Olympics, USA)", smiles Christian Pelatan. Many of these charms were recovered "because athletes from Eastern countries sold them for a living", explains the & ;ldquo;conservative”. More atypical, the building houses a host of Olympic merchandise. Pin’s, mascots… Everything goes there, accumulated by “Loulou” Nicollin, sometimes thanks to special correspondents from Midi Libre. "He needed everything from the Olympics because he was passionate about everything", recalls his son. To the point of devoting another building to cycling, one of his countless passions.

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