Sometimes touched, never sunk, these French volleyball players are unsinkable

The French team, crowned Olympic champion for the second time in a row after its resounding victory against Poland on Saturday, drew on adversity and its fans to continue moving forward.

A thousand difficulties gave birth to this French team. By aggregating them and continuing to turn round in spite of everything, it has become a planet in its own right, gravitating around its star victory. It needed that to make its place among the only three stars to have achieved the Olympic double. And this, despite the pressure of the public and a title to defend.

The Tricolores used it rather than being crushed by their weight. In the final, on Saturday August 10, they swept away Poland (3 sets to 0), the world’s number one nation, swept away in the blue whirlwind. Just like Italy a few days before. But, before these demonstrations, the road to gold was not always paved with roses for the now double Olympic champions.

It is not as certain as death and taxes, but the victory of the Blues seems almost to have been written in advance. A near-certainty that goes back to the quarter-finals, when, led 2 sets to nothing by Germany, they managed to straighten out a terribly bad situation. With experience, these men are no longer averse to a miracle. They have weathered so many storms, played on fiercely hostile terrain, that they are now ready for any fight. Once the machine is launched, it resembles a steamroller. “This group really has something special”breathes Earvin Ngapeth after this new coronation. “We like spending time together, we like suffering together, we like going to the ends of the earth to play volleyball together.”

“Put whoever you want in front of us, when we are like this, we can win everything”warned former international Julien Lyneel before the final. Wilfredo Leon as he is, namely the best striker in the world, the leaping monster of the Polish selection remained in his box in the final. Locked in twice by a flawless block erected by a stunning Jean Patry (17 points in total).

If this French team never seems to doubt, it is because it knows where it comes from. That is to say, from nowhere or almost. Built on the remains of a vanished generation (not qualified for the 2008 and 2012 Games and eliminated in the group stage in 2016), it has patiently built itself stone by stone. When the architect of this revival, Laurent Tillie, left after the gold in Tokyo, the Blues managed to digest the early departure, for family reasons, of his successor Bernardinho to welcome Andrea Giani.

The great success of the latter was to keep the state of mind of these players intact. Without ever seeking to force the passage. By accompanying rather than imposing. Nothing is more dangerous than a confident French volleyball player. Supported by a public in total osmosis with her. “It’s really an added strength”exulted Earvin Ngapeth after the semi-final against Italy, “we feed on that.”

White-hot, the Arena Porte Sud roared with each attack, each counter, each defended ball. Trévor Clévenot, gold medal around his neck, savored: “We won the title in Tokyo, behind closed doors, it was a bit special whereas here, the atmosphere is crazy (…) We felt a craze, the audience was crazy. They pushed us. As soon as there was a hot moment, the public pushed us so much that we made the difference.” A refrain taken up by his teammate Jenia Grebennikov a few moments later: “It changes everything, especially at the end of sets and in tight matches,” he explains. “You tell yourself that you can’t let go, that you’re in France, in front of the fans and the family, and that transcended us at certain moments.”

As comfortable in hostile environments – they beat Poland at home in the Nations League semi-finals last June – as when carried by thousands of votes, this multifaceted team has proven, at the best possible moment, its ability to adapt. “We were lucky to be the right generation at the time when the Games were in Paris”concludes Antoine Brizard. We could not have dreamed of a better alignment of planets.