Silver medals in kayak cross and 3×3 basketball, volleyball players in the semi-finals, Simone Biles beaten… What to remember from Monday

The French team won its 46th medal of these Olympic Games despite a poor Monday and a big disappointment in the triathlon.

A quieter day for the Blues. The day after its record number of medals at the Olympic Games, France has, for the time being, only brought back two trinkets, Monday August 5. Angèle Hug in kayak cross and the 3×3 basketball players won silver. A metal that the American Simone Biles also had to make do with, dominated by the Brazilian Rebeca Andrade on the ground.

Angèle Hug adorns herself with silver

It took a masterful performance to make us forget the disillusionment of Boris Neveu, eliminated in the semi-finals in kayak cross. So, Angèle Hug did it. Not particularly expected, the 24-year-old from Ardèche made the Vaires-sur-Marne water sports pool vibrate by winning the first silver medal in the history of this new discipline that is creating a show.

Having had a bad start in the final, she managed to catch up by blocking her opponents at the last gate thanks to the help of a buoy to finally take second place in the race behind the Australian Noemie Fox. Enough to offer the French canoe-kayak its third podium of these Games after Nicolas Gestin’s gold in canoe and Titouan Castryck’s silver in slalom.

The Blues of volleyball return from hell

They are in the semi-finals! Reigning Olympic champions, Earvin Ngapeth’s partners managed a crazy comeback against Germany to return to the last four of the Games. Initially ghostly and logically trailing two sets to zero, the French pulled out all the stops to come back into the match and finally win in the tie-break.

A scenario that made the crowd at the Paris Sud Arena roar with pleasure, released on a final opposing serve outside. To continue the defense of his title won in Tokyo, The French team will face Italy on Wednesday, which also fell through a mouse hole against Japan after saving four match points.

Cruel money for the Blues of 3×3 basketball

The spectators at the Place de la Concorde must have felt a cold, even icy air at the time of De Jong’s two-point shot, which meant a gold medal for the Netherlands and silver for France. Les Bleus lost in sudden death (17-18) in the 3×3 basketball final.

Lucas Dussoulier, Franck Seguela, Timothé Vergiat and Jules Rambaut, who few people expected at that stage of the Olympic tournament, beat the reigning world champions, Serbia, in the quarter-finals, then Latvia, the Olympic champion, in the semi-finals.

Thierry Henry’s Blues in the final

They almost missed out on this final. Trailing by one goal until the 83rd minute, Thierry Henry’s players won in the semi-finals, after extra time, against Egypt (3-1), thanks to a double from Jean-Philippe Mateta and a goal from Michael Olise. A first in 40 years.

On Friday, they will challenge Spain at the Parc des Princes in a clash that looks like a revenge of the last Euro, with the hope of emulating their glorious predecessors of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

French triathletes at the foot of the podium

If Angèle Hug opened the day’s counter late in the afternoon, it is also because the mixed relay of the triathlon did not go as planned for the French. Early this morning, The fall from his bike of Pierre Le Corre, first to set off for the team, condemned the favourites of the event. A scenario all the more infuriating as he had come out in the lead from the Seine.

Starting 40 seconds behind the competition, Emma Lombardi was unable to close the gap. Nor were Léo Bergère and Cassandre Beaugrand. Les Bleus thus finished fourth, behind Germany, the United States and Great Britain. A failure that did not prevent the France of the “tri” from leaving these Games, with its head held high, with an excellent record.

Simone Biles Frustrated After Crazy Day

She was promised five gold medals after the last two event finals, but Simone Biles left Paris with “only” three titles. The day started badly for the American gymnast, who finished fifth on the beam after falling like many of her competitors.

Motivated by this failure and big favourite on floor, her favourite area, the champion was then beaten by her Brazilian rival, Rebeca Andrade. She took second place, ahead of her compatriot Jordan Chiles, in bronze. If it wasn’t the expected result, the queen of the discipline obtains an eleventh medal at the Olympic Games, three years after her trauma in Tokyo.