confirmations, disappointments or surprises… The results of the first week of the French

What a first week for the French Olympic team! Forty-one medals (12 gold, 14 silver, 15 bronze) was the total of the French harvest on Sunday morning, August 4, just two lengths from the record set in Beijing in 2008 (43) – if we exclude the Paris 1900 Games and their 102 podiums. The Blues, carried by their public, had an excellent start to the Olympic Games, particularly in judo and swimming, with Léon Marchand’s four gold medals, and in the various cycling disciplines.

Confirmations

There are three of them at the top of Olympus, but also at the top of the French love story. Antoine Dupont, Léon Marchand and Teddy Riner, in order of appearance in the competitions, have won everything in their path.

Who better to kick off the gold medal haul than the French men’s rugby 7s team? ? The Blue sept team, world circuit champions this season, have assumed their rank by winning the Olympic tournament with a demonstration in the final against the Fijians (28-7). Antoine Dupont thus completed an extraordinary season during which he had already won the Top 14 and the Champions Cup. Like him, but in the Paris La Défense Arena basin, Léon Marchand has capsized France, and even more. He has already won four gold medalson the 200 m breaststroke, the 200 m butterfly, the 200 m 4 strokes and the 400 m 4 medleys. He thus becomes the first French athlete to win four gold medals in a single edition of the Games.

As for Teddy Riner, he came to win his third individual gold medal. He leaves with it, and a second in team, which brings his total to five. After his 2012 and 2016 individual titles, he thus becomes the most successful judoka in the history of the Olympic Games. His last fight, during the team event, brought gold to the French team in an indescribable atmosphere to complete this week of harvests for his discipline: 10 medals, including two gold.

Friday being a decidedly golden day, French BMX shone in the evening with a hat-trick not seen for a century at the Summer Games. Joris Daudet, Sylvain André and Romain Mahieu proved that France was a great BMX discipline and erased the trauma of Tokyo, where the three Frenchmen entered in the final had failed to get on the podium.

On the same day, Charline Picon won a third Olympic medal, bronze, after gold in Rio 2016 and silver in Tokyo in 2021. She won it in a pair with Sarah Steyeart in a skiff, while her specialty, RS:X sailing, was removed from the Olympic program.

In the exceptional setting of the Grand Palais, the first French-French women’s final at the Games since 1996, won by Manon Apithy-Brunet at the expense of Sara Balzer, was remarkable. The French triathlon also shone with the gold medal of Cassandre Beaugrand and the bronze of Léo Bergère. The new Olympic champion won her greatest title after finishing second in the test event in 2023.

Finally, in canoeing, Nicolas Gestin confirmed France’s excellent position at world level by winning the fifth French title in men’s slalom in the last seven. He follows in the footsteps of Tony Estanguet (2000, 2004 and 2012) and Denis Gargaud Chanut (2016).

Deceptions

Despite an extremely positive assessment, some disappointments have punctuated these first eight days of competition since the opening ceremony. Unlike their male counterparts, the French rugby 7s team, Olympic vice-champions in Tokyo, were eliminated in the quarter-finals. No medals either for rowing, which, for the first time since 1992, did not bring any trinkets to France. However, the discipline lined up five boats, including one with an Olympic title to defend in the double sculls (Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias), but only one qualified for the final, without reaching the podium.

In another failing discipline, tennis, the federation’s high-level director Ivan Ljubicic has offered his resignation, citing poor results. “catastrophic” after the elimination of all the French in singles or doubles before the quarter-finals. In athletics, Kevin Mayer was simply unable to take part in the decathlon, due to a thigh injury that occurred at the worst possible time, at the beginning of July. As for the French footballers, they once again stopped at the quarter-final stage, eliminated by Brazil in a match that they could have won. Hervé Renard’s adventure on the bench ends with a taste of unfinished business.

For sabre fencers Manon Apithy-Brunet and Sara Balzer, their historic individual final gave way to a huge disappointment in the team event, as they failed in the small final for bronze. Just like the épée fencers, who were aiming for team gold. Yannick Borel’s silver in the individual épée, bronze in the men’s team sabre, Auriane Mallo-Breton’s silver in the individual épée and the same metal for the women’s team épée brought them medals, but not necessarily the expected metal. Manon Apithy-Brunet is thus the only French Olympic fencing champion in Paris. Frustrating.

While they were hoping to qualify for the team final and secure individual places of honor, the French gymnasts, led by Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos, collapsed spectacularly during the qualifications.

It’s also hard to say she disappointed, since she won a crucial fight in the team event final, but Clarisse Agbégnénou, the reigning Olympic judo champion in the under-63 category, kg, herself admits that she would have liked better than her individual bronze medal, she who was the defending champion. This is also the case for Romane Dicko, big favorite of +78 kg and who must be content with bronze.

The surprises

The beauty of the Games is that they bring their share of surprises. In judo, Joan-Benjamin Gaba (-73 kg) experienced it. Thirty-fifth in the world rankings, he won the silver medal before winning team gold with a decisive victory in the final. His accomplice, Maxime-Gaël Ngayap Hambou (-90 kg), won bronze, although he was not expected due to his 38th place in the world.

In equestrian, the French show jumping team was not necessarily expected on the podium, but Simon Delestre, Julien Epaillard and Olivier Perreau won bronze in Versailles. In the wake of the French eventing team, Karim Laghouag, Stéphane Landois and Nicolas Touzaint, silver medalists.

Her tears of joy betrayed her emotion and pride: Lisa Barbelin brought home her first medal for France in the women’s individual archery event since the event returned to the Olympic programme in 1972. The archer won bronze, a few days after the silver medal won by the men’s teams, Jean-Charles Valladont, Thomas Chirault and Baptiste Addis. Two medals in a single edition of the Olympic Games, this is a first for the French archery delegation.

In road cycling, in the road race, the Blues also brought back two medals to France, thanks to the second and third places of Valentin Madouas and Christophe Laporte behind Remco Evenepoel. They were able to hold their own while riders like Wout Van Aert or Mathieu van der Poel were the favourites.