Félix Lebrun and the foil fencers take bronze, Novak Djokovic wins gold, Noah Lyles king of the 100m… What to remember from this day of August 4

France ends the first week of these Olympic Games with three more medals, all bronze: in table tennis, swimming and foil. The record set in Beijing has been surpassed. Noah Lyles won the main event in athletics: the 100m, while Novak Djokovic finally came full circle, with an Olympic title in tennis.

Bronze for Lebrun

In full control, the French table tennis player demonstrated the extent of his maturity by beating Hugo Calderano four sets to zero to take the bronze medal in the individual event. He dispatched the Brazilian, who had eliminated his brother, Alexis Lebrun, in the 8th finals, before savouring and, this time, letting tears of joy flow.

“It’s been a dream of mine since I was little. It’s incredible! I have no words. I played the perfect game,” declared the new Olympic medalist on France 2. Félix Lebrun did not give in despite the pressure of history and thus follows in the footsteps of Jean-Philippe Gatien, the last French table tennis medalist at the Barcelona Games in 1992.

Sofiane Oumiha and Billal Bennama in the boxing final

The two Toulouse boxers are undeniably linked. Sofiane Oumiha succeeded Billal Bennama in the ring of the Arena Paris-Nord in Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis) to try, he too, to win his place in the final. In the -51 kg category, Billal Bennama had just beaten the relentless Yunior Alcantara Reyes on a knife-edge and on points. “It is enormous”commented the man who was eliminated in the first fight in Tokyo. “It represents everything to me, years of work, ups, downs, disappointments.”

He will face the final on Thursday on the Philippe-Chatrier court at Roland-Garros, the day after Sofiane Oumiha will attempt to win the Olympic title in -63.5 kg. “I am looking for something great,” said the boxer after his controlled fight against the number 1 seed. Eight years after Rio, the triple world champion in the under 60 kg category has once again reached the last four of the Olympic competition.

Noah Lyles on the roof of Olympus

World sprinting has a new Olympic champion. In a final that will remain one of the highlights of these Games, Noah Lyles won the 100m in 9.79 seconds to win the gold medal. He finished just five thousandths ahead of Jamaican Kishane Thompson. American Fred Kerley was third.

All the runners in this final finished under 10 seconds, and the difference between the first and the last, Oblique Seville, is only… 12 hundredths.

Today’s disappointments in gymnastics, shooting and foil

At 34, Samir Aït Saïd’s painful road to the Olympic Games continues. The gymnast, a rings specialist, injured his tibia before London, then seriously in qualifying for Rio. But, as in Tokyo, the Antibes native failed to reach the podium, this time by 0.100 points, proof of his impeccable performance without it being enough.

They missed out on their semi-final in the men’s team foil. Maxime Pauty, Enzo Lefort, Maximilien Chastanet and Julien Mertine lost 45 to 37 against the Japanese number 1s. However, they managed to remobilize to go for the bronze, beating the United States (45-32).

No Frenchman managed to reach the final of the shooting. The reigning Olympic champion in 25-meter speed pistol, Jean Quiquampoix, never really entered his qualifications and failed in 22nd place, while the world number one, Clément Bessaguet, failed in 7th place when only the first six qualified for the final. Also in Châteauroux, in the morning, Lucie Anastassiou also fell in women’s skeet.

Zhoya in the semi-finals, two other French in the repechage

Cheered by the crowd, the 22-year-old Frenchman, European and world junior champion in the 110-meter hurdles, made the most of his debut on the Stade de France track. Sasha Zhoya narrowly qualified for the semi-finals on Sunday, snatching the third time in his series, more than forty hundredths of a second behind the big favorite, American Grant Holloway.

On the other hand, the two other French hurdlers in the running, Raphaël Mohamed and Wilhem Belocian, will have to go through the repechages on Monday. In the women’s 400m hurdles, Louise Maraval imitated the young hope of French athletics by qualifying directly for the semi-final which will, without a doubt, be animated by the duel between Femke Bol and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

Djokovic in gold

This final could have been a Parisian Grand Slam final, it was a final for Olympic gold, on the Philippe-Chatrier court. Novak Djokovic beat Carlos Alcaraz in two sets 7-6 [3]7-6 [2] and nearly 2 hours and 50 minutes of play. The Serb won the only title still missing from his rich list of achievements: gold, sixteen years after his bronze medal in Beijing.

This final will go down in history for the quality of play and the intensity put in by both players to win Olympic gold. Novak Djokovic joins Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, also gold medallists.

The Blues of handball are reassured

They snatched it, this victory. After an unconvincing start to the Olympic tournament – two defeats, one draw and only one victory – The French handball team won against Hungary (24-20) and validated its qualification for the quarter-finals. They will face Germany in Lille.

Nikola Karabatic and his teammates have not yet shown that they are completely in control of their destiny: while they were leading at half-time, the Blues let the points slip away and came close to a penalty. But this team has resources and pride, this is one of the confirmations of this match.

Kaylia Nemour, Africa’s first gold medal in gymnastics

At just 17 years old, Kaylia Nemour, who took Algerian nationality two years ago, was exceptional on the uneven bars to win a gold medal, the first for an African country in gymnastics.

The Franco-Algerian, the big favourite in the uneven bars event, scored 15.700 ahead of the Chinese Qiu Qiyuan (15.500) and the American Sunisa Lee (14.800).

French women’s basketball team beaten by Australia

This is their first defeat of the group stage. The French basketball players were beaten by Australia (72-79) for the last match of the group stage. A defeat that does not jeopardize the participation of the Blues for the rest of the Olympic tournament. They retain first place in their group and will face Germany in the quarter-finals.