Paris (AFP)

In the spirit of their historic victory over the United States at the World Cup in China, French basketball players dream of climbing on the Olympic podium next summer in Tokyo, twenty years after the silver medal at the Sydney Games.

. A match for history

Dongguan's feat (89-79) will remain in the books. A French team has never beaten an American selection entirely made up of NBA players. Certainly, neither LeBron James, nor Steph Curry, nor any big star was there in this quarter-final, but this "Team USA" filled with important players in their franchise (Kemba Walker, Donovan Mitchell, etc) and coached by the great Gregg Popovich still looked good. The United States had not lost in a major tournament in thirteen years.

. Reinforced status

After this summit, the Blues certainly disappointed by losing to Argentina two days later in the semi-final. But this failure should not devalue their journey in China. Present twice in a row on the world podium, after the bronze of 2014, qualified for the third time in a row for the Olympic Games, France has settled among the nations that count.

. An emancipated generation

Tony Parker had retired in 2015, but the World Cup in China was the first major tournament disputed without the pillars of his generation, Boris Diaw, who left after Euro-2017, and also Mickaël Gelabale and Florent Piétrus. The new group is more balanced than the previous one, very dependent on "TP". He relies on four leaders: Nando De Colo and Evan Fournier for the attack, Rudy Gobert for the defense, Nicolas Batum, the new captain, to make the link. A more solid base to aim for a podium which has always been refused by the gang at Parker.

. NBA and Euroleague in force

To compose the group of twelve elected for Tokyo, coach Vincent Collet has a large tank. Eleven French players play this season in the NBA, including Fournier (Orlando), Gobert (Utah) and Batum (Charlotte), the second largest foreign contingent behind the Canadians. A dozen others wear the colors of the best Euroleague clubs such as De Colo (Fenerbahçe), Fabien Causeur (Real Madrid), Thomas Heurtel (Barcelona) or Rodrigue Beaubois (Efes Istanbul), in addition to those who play this season at Villeurbanne and dream of being part of the adventure (Livio Jean-Charles, Antoine Diot, Edwin Jackson ...).

. Time to prepare

In 2016, the French won their Olympic ticket only a few weeks before the Games, in a "TQO" in the Philippines. They paid dearly for this riot of energy in Rio. Punished for entry by the Australians, they collapsed in the quarterfinals against Spain, depriving Parker of a successful outing. For Tokyo, on the contrary, their ticket in their pocket from the World Cup, they will have plenty of time to run in and the coach will be able to program his preparation to reach a single peak of form, not two at a month apart. It is the others who will use their forces from June 23 to 28 in "life to death" qualifying tournaments.

. Even more intense competition

Getting on the podium in Tokyo will be even more difficult than in China. If the World Cup is often shunned by the stars, the Olympics arouse much more enthusiasm. Among the Americans, a host of big names have already applied for Tokyo, including Steph Curry, Kawih Leonard, Paul George and James Harden. If they follow through on their intentions, there will be one less place to take on the podium, the first. Other nations could be much more formidable than last summer if they recover their major players absent in China (Serbia, Russia, Australia, Spain and Canada among others have been affected by forfeits).

© 2019 AFP