Nine months before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, French judokas pass their “bac blanc” at the European Championships – Libération

2023-11-06 17:12:17

With nine medals including five titles during the competition organized in Montpellier from November 3 to 5, the team seems well engaged, focusing on different strategies for men and women.

First provider of charms of French sport at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 (seven individually for thirteen participants, gold in mixed teams, out of the 33 in the final results), and assured as host country of having a representative in each of the fourteen individual categories at the Paris Olympics, the French judo team announced through its president Stéphane Nomis the ambitious objective of “ten Olympic medals”.

To achieve it, the women’s and men’s teams chose two distinct paths: stability for the first (the seven Tokyo starters were present at the European Championships, from Friday November 3 to Sunday 5 in Montpellier), generational mixing for the second (only two “Tokyoites” out of six fought in Hérault). The challenge was twofold: to see more clearly in the categories with strong Franco-French competition, and to climb the world rankings to avoid tricky draws come summer.

“The other nations are waiting for us around the corner”

The women’s dream team and its 100% Olympic or world medalists involved sent contradictory signals to Montpellier. The four deafening titles of Shirine Boukli, Amandine Buchard, Marie-Ève ​​Gahié and Romane Dicko and the radiant bronze of Sarah-Léonie Cysique are nuanced by the slips of three taulières. The premature failures in -78 kg of Audrey Tcheuméo and Madeleine Malonga question the wear and tear caused by six seasons in a row of “à toi-mine” between the two thirty-year-olds. As for Clarisse Agbegnenou, the aura which still protected her in May in Doha during the conquest of her sixth world title took a sudden blow in Montpellier (7th). A legitimate decompensation given the efforts made by the young mother to return to the high level.

“We are attentive to the overall dynamic and the individual reality of each person,” recalls Christophe Massina. The manager of the French women’s team does not neglect the effects of the health crisis and the impression of being constantly on the go. “The three selection phases for the Olympics scheduled for mid-November, the end of February and the beginning of May could only be two if the committee considers that this is best for the freshness of the athletes. The other nations are waiting for us around the corner, it’s up to us to put all the chances on our side.”

Progression au sol

With four medals including a title, the first since 2016 – in the absence of Teddy Riner – the French men signed their best overall continental performance since… Montpellier 2014. By Stakhanovist Romain Valadier-Picard to the simple and contagious emotion of the European champion Luka Mkheidze and the medalists Walide Khyar and Alpha Oumar Djalo, a milestone seems to have been set in Hérault. This is the analysis of Baptiste Leroy, who arrived at the end of 2022 at the head of this team: “Until now, the guys had all performed in tournaments, but never at the same time. The idea is to arrive at the Games with the ability to all have their D-day in the same week. These Europe at home are a bit of a blank slate. In recent months, there has been a lot of renewal in club staff, with the arrival of experienced and committed coaches, and this is not insignificant. The entire history of the French team shows that you need strong clubs to have a strong national team.”

Known to be fragile on the ground during the previous Olympiad, the French have been working on it for several months with Bertrand Amoussou. The former European medalist who has become a key figure in the MMA sphere has put in place concrete tools such as his “IES index for intention, commitment, success” making it possible to statistically measure progress in this key sector of combat, and it shows.

However, beware of illusions. The Russians, as usual in an Olympic year, only sent a B team. Many big names lost prematurely over these three days, like the double Czech Olympic champion Lukas Krpalek. As for the Georgians, they will not always lose four finals in a row as they have done since Saturday. As explained on Sunday, with a nod in support, Rok Draksic, Slovenian coach of the Finn Martti Puumalainen, thunderous winner a few hours later in +100 kg: “We must not make the wrong objectives. Defeat stings the pride of our athletes. It’s up to us, coaches, to know how to use it to target the moments of the season when they will react best. A little over two hundred and sixty days before the start of the Olympic Games, the chess game is on.