2023-05-25 09:32:30
On BeIN this Thursday, Céline Dumerc, the general manager of the French federation, speaks for the first time on the case of Marine Johannès, recalling the reasons why this one, a major element of the France team, will not compete not the Euro with the Blue from June 15 to 25 in Slovenia and Israel.
“It’s sad actually because it’s not simple,” said Dumerc. These are choices that must be made and which are beyond our control. Whether it’s the staff or Marine, we would like to have Marine in the European Championship. Now, there are choices that have to be made, because of the schedule. She has just finished the LFB finals, the preparation is super short, we have very few days left to prepare. We’ve been chasing a title for ten years. It’s the pre-Olympic year, there’s a lot of context that makes us want to be in the best situation. The best situation is to have the whole group. »
The FFBB manager says she still understands Johannès, but concludes that she must choose between her WNBA team in the United States and the France team, for the Euro, and consequently the Olympics, next year. .
“Marine would like to ‘do’ the United States, go play with her WNBA team in New York, which is understood, resumes Dumerc. We know his game, his qualities. It sticks to him so well that you can’t blame him for doing that. Now, we can’t do everything. Since February, we have had meetings. I’ve always said that you have to make choices and assume the choices you make. Good or bad choices, we don’t have to judge that. No one should judge that. We are not in the place of the player, we are not in the place of the coach who, he, will ultimately assume depending on whether he has results or not. Now, you have to be honest and really say what you want. To do everything is not possible. »
“The framework has been defined from the beginning”
Still on BeIN, coach Jean-Aimé Toupane, aligned with Dumerc’s position, confirmed that he would stick to the initial plan: “We are in a very short scheme, we have 13 training sessions in total. As far as Marine is concerned, we have been talking about this situation for a year. The framework was defined from the beginning. I don’t want to make it a special case. I focus on the team. There are also other players. »
The 28-year-old Frenchwoman, one of the most talented and spectacular players on the basketball planet, was announced as one of the stars of the organized competition.
A few months ago, in order to maximize preparation time, the FFBB announced that it would require internationals to be present during the rally at Insep, from Wednesday May 24. Gathering which marks the official launch of the campaign for the Euro.
Only here, the back of Asvel had planned for a long time to fly to the United States after the season in the Women’s League in order to sign his new contract with his New York Liberty franchise (in WNBA) and therefore missed the start of this gathering.
Crowned champion of France with her club on Monday evening after a marathon season (victory in the Eurocoupe, final in the Coupe de France), she could not make this express round trip to the Big Apple earlier.
Under the blue tunic, worn 108 times, she won three silver medals in the European Championships (2017, 2019, 2021) and an Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo (2021). Injured just before the World Cup in Australia in September 2022, she had made the decision to stay with the group throughout the competition.
#Céline #Dumerc #speaks #Marine #Johannès #affair