When 3AW’s Shane McInnes met the President: “I went out on a limb and said ‘Bonjour!'”

It’s not every day you score a selfie with the French President.

3AW Olympic commentator Shane McInnes has a basic grasp of the French language, and it certainly came in handy the other day, during an international media reception at the palatial home of Emmanuel Macron.

McInnes, part of the Nine Radio team in Paris, explained to 3AW’s Ross and Russ that the once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity presented itself after Macron had wrapped up an official speech at Élysée Palace.

“I’ve always been told that in France, if you make the effort, people admire that. They appreciate a ‘Bonjour’ or a ‘merci beaucoup,’” said Shane.

“So, I went out on a limb and I said ‘Monsieur President! Bonjour! Je’mappelle Shane from Australia!’ And it had the desired effect.”

Shane says he ended up having quite the conversation with Macron.

“He said ‘I love Australia … enjoy your time here.’”

Radio journos, hosts and commentators are now on the ground in Paris ahead of Saturday’s Opening Ceremony, where athletes will be on board barges, floating along the Seine River.

Since arriving in the capital, Nine reporter and Nova’s Clint Stanaway has also had his share of adventures, including a random run-in with police whilst trying to figure out the city’s underground train network.

Clint told his Nova 100 Breakfast colleagues Jase & Lauren “I’m walking through the station, following the signs like a good boy, and I get into where line three is, and I’m like, ‘This is beautiful, this station.’ It is sparkling because, of course, they’ve built new stadiums. They’ve built new water features. They’ve improved the bridges, roads.”

“Anyways, I’m walking up this escalator, and (I’m thinking) where’s the public? Why on earth is there nobody using this station? Something’s not quite right, and then I hear this ‘Monsieur! Excuse-moi Monsieur!’”

“I have breached security inadvertently. That is out of bounds. I am in a no-go zone.”

“They quickly saw from my Colonial Brewing Co t-shirt and my Birkenstocks that I was from out of town and that I’d taken a wrong turn.”

“It was a brand new station that that was meant to open in conjunction with the Opening Ceremony … they were not happy.”

On a much more sombre note, Nine has reminded its staff to remain vigilant, after two of its technicians were set upon in what appears to have been a robbery attempt.

The team members had left the International Broadcast Centre and were walking to accommodation when they were attacked. They were fortunately able to break free and the matter has been reported to police.