Paris (AFP)

For the first time, a man and a woman will carry the flag of the French team at the next Olympic Games in Tokyo (23 July-8 August) and their names will be revealed on Monday evening, less than three weeks before the ceremony. opening of an event heckled by the pandemic.

Parity, which has slowly advanced its pawns in the political world, is also gradually advancing in that of sport.

France has thus converted to the possibility of a pair of flag-bearers, man and woman, opened by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

So which duo to succeed judo champion Teddy Riner, blue-white-red standard five years ago during the Rio Olympics?

Twelve athletes were candidates in mid-April but rider Astier Nicolas has since withdrawn from the race after the injury of his horse which deprives him of the Olympics.

The eleven remaining candidates will be decided by "ambassadors" from each federation via a points system.

On the men's side, swimmer Florent Manaudou and pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie are legitimate candidates to lead the delegation of 378 athletes who will be traveling to Japan.

The outsiders are gymnast Samir Ait-Saïd and Maxime Beaumont, canoe specialist.

- Manaudou?

Agbegnenou?

Lavillenie?

Robert-Michon?

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On the women's side, the judokate Clarisse Agbegnenou, who is running for an Olympic title in Tokyo, competes for the star with a discreet athletics star, and mother of two children, Mélina Robert-Michon (Olympic vice-disc champion in Rio) who will participate at his sixth Games.

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Also candidates are surfer Johanne Defay, basketball player Sandrine Gruda, boxer Maïva Hamadouche, tennis player Kristina Mladenovic, as well as windsurfer Charline Picon.

The names of the lucky ones will be revealed from the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), which has just experienced a small revolution by electing last week a woman at its head, Brigitte Henriques.

The French delegation is not equal, since 212 men and 166 women are going to Japan, with the objective of bringing back "about forty medals".

Brigitte Henriques will be in the company of Marie-Amélie Le Fur, President of the French Paralympic Committee, since the French Paralympic team will also know the name of its two flag bearers, also a man and a woman, appointed by a vote of the public.

The candidates are: Stéphane Houdet (wheelchair tennis), Sandrine Martinet (parajudo), Perle Bouge (paraaviron), Nantenin Keita (para-athletics), David Smetanine (para-swimming), Pierre Fairbank (para-athletics), Souhad Ghazouani (para-bench press ).

Three weeks before the opening ceremony, uncertainty still hangs over the course of these Olympics.

Indeed, the president of the organizing committee, Seiko Hashimoto, left open the "option" of a closed session at the competition venues after the concerns expressed by the Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at the upsurge in Covid cases. -19 in the capital.

The organizers of the Games had decided in June to allow the public residing in Japan, but at 50% of the reception capacities of each Olympic site and within a maximum limit of 10,000 people per site.

© 2021 AFP