Far from the Olympic village, the “concentrated” preparation of Thierry Henry’s Blues

The French Olympic team has set up its base camp in Bouches-du-Rhône for several weeks. Objective: to be in a bubble and arrive in the best conditions.

Three days before the official start of the Paris Olympic Games, French athletes begin to flock to the Club France at Porte de la Villette in Paris. But others will never set foot there, unless, of course, they have a well-deserved medal around their neck… This is the case for the footballers of the French Olympic team, led by Thierry Henry.

In Châteauneuf-le-Rouge and Trets, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, 800 km from the capital, it is a certainty: the Blues are in a bubble.

Having been settled for a month in this cocoon that is their base camp, near Aix-en-Provence, the players admit it: they do not all yet have the Olympic flame, nor the fervor that goes with it.No, not too much, because we’re locked up here. It’s also been a long time since I’ve seen the family.says striker Jean-Philippe Mateta. From here, we don’t feel the excitement, but I think we’ll feel it on match day.“, he wants to be positive.

Staying far from Club France or the excitement of the Olympic village in Saint-Denis is a small regret also shared by Stade Rennais midfielder Désiré Doué.Sharing moments with other athletes, discovering other sports that we are not used to seeing on a daily basis… It’s something beautiful too! Afterwards, today, we are in very good infrastructures. We are, together, a team and that allows us to be fully focused on our competition“, pleads the 19-year-old attacking midfielder.

For his part, Thierry Henry was able to taste this Olympic wind: he was the one who was designated first bearer of the Olympic Flame on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, on July 14. A moment “Magic“, he had then confided. Like him, theThe Blues are now waiting for only one thing: to be swept away by this Olympic wave in Marseille, Wednesday July 24, in a sold-out Stade Vélodrome, for their first match in the five-ring tournament against the United States.