Recovery from his muscular injuries at the start of the season with Asvel, the best scorer in the history of Les Bleues dreams of the Paris Olympics in 2024.
The hour of retirement has not yet come for Sandrine Gruda, neither in club nor in selection. At 36, the best scorer in the history of Les Bleues (2784 pts) confessed a few weeks ago in the columns of the newspaper The Teamvivre «day by dayand project less. Not enough to take from his mind the prospect of a fourth participation in the Olympic Games. “It’s my aim. Now, I take things with calm, patience, I take height on things in factshe tells Le Figaro, in an interview conducted through her new equipment supplier, Puma. There are new components, for example the fact that we have a new staff in the France team (Jean-Aimé Toupane took over from Valérie Garnier in 2021, Ed), a technical team that works differently from the other three than I have known. There are new rules, new principles. We have to see how the mayonnaise will take but of course, the objective is to go until Paris 2024.»
One thing is certain: Gruda still has the fangs, even after having won everything in club (Euroleague, WNBA…) and in selection (Euro 2009, Olympic vice-champion 2012…). “I am a woman of details. For me, the seasons are not alike. I always see a difference between the years and even the different goals. We can sometimes summarize them by winning, but a goal is not achieved in the same way depending on the group I work with. What makes me progress today is this return to France, the title of champion of France at stake and all those we are trying to take along the way. And also this career in the France team until my retirement. The idea is 2024-25. That’s what I like: the challenges that come with the competition and all the adaptations that have to be made according to the groups in which I evolve.“, she swears. Forced to withdraw from the World Cup last summer, Gruda, 215 caps, will aim to find Les Bleues this year during the Euro, before the Olympics.