It may also be that the media was quoting directly from Air France's spokesman. Perhaps his English may not have been letter perfect or he was reading a translation from French.

Concorde uses afterburners, not thrust reversers on their RR Olympus 503s to obtain additional speed at takeoff. Thrust reversers are only used during the landing rollout. It would not be a very good idea to use reverse thrust at takeoff unless it's aborted before V1 (the point in which the aircraft is committed to takeoff).

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Causa latet vis est notissima - the cause is hidden, the results are well-known.