After seven days of trials in Beijing, France has six Olympic medals and is in 13th place in the nations ranking. Since the start of the 21st century, where have we stood compared to other editions of the Winter Games? We take stock halfway through.
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The Beijing Olympics have been in full swing for a week at the sites of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. Between beautiful surprises, disappointments, and confirmations of good form, these Games are very emotional for the tricolor clan. In the medal table, France is in 13th place with six podiums in seven days (count stopped on February 11). A figure in the average of the last five editions of the Winter Games (seven in Pyeongchang, four in Sochi, seven in Vancouver, four in Turin and five in Salt Lake City).
Back in pictures on the sixth day of our tricolor at the Olympic Games of #Beijing2022 #AllezLesBleus pic.twitter.com/C612xCU1aC
— Team France (@EquipeFRA) February 10, 2022
The Games got off to a strong start with a first silver medal in the mixed biathlon relay on the first day (thanks to Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, Julia Simon, Emilien Jacquelin and Quentin Fillon Maillet). Johan Clarey, dean of the French alpine ski team (41), became the oldest medalist in the discipline by winning silver in the downhill. The younger generation is not to be outdone since Tess Ledeux (20 years old) and Chloé Trespeuch (27 years old) were crowned Olympic vice-champions respectively in freestyle skiing (big air) and snowboard cross.
If the mid-term assessment is comparable in number to previous editions of the Olympics, a particularity should be noted in Beijing: it is the first time that there are only two colors of medals, gold and silver. In six podiums, only a Marseillaise has sounded in China (for the title of Quentin Fillon Maillet in biathlon on the individual), while at least two Olympic titles had been won (three in Pyeongchang) after seven days of competition of the Games .
As has been the case for several editions, biathlon is the biggest supplier of medals, since three of the six charms were won at the Zhangjiakou site. There are still seven races left for biathletes to shine (four for men, three for women). Clément Noël (slalom) as well as Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron (reigning Olympic vice-champions in ice dancing) are also among the great remaining chances of medals.