Tokyo (AFP)

Rio-2016 and its harvest of medals (6) seem to be ancient history for French athletics, which approaches the Tokyo Olympics on Friday in the most total vagueness between misforms and limited podium hopes.

Caution is required at the French Athletics Federation ... Asked at the beginning of July about his ambitions for the Olympics, the president of the FFA André Giraud had declared "wanting to do better than in Rio".

A clever formula, when we know that the Blues had not brought back any title from Brazil, and a wise precaution as the Habs lack certainty when starting the competition.

"French athletics has only 11 Olympic champions in its history, the last in 2012 and then we have to go back to 1996! If we win one or two gold medals, we can consider that we have fulfilled our contract", specified M Giraud Tuesday.

The chances of victory rest mainly on the shoulders of world record holder Kevin Mayer in the decathlon.

For the rest, apart from Yohann Diniz on the unpredictable 50 km walk, or a feat of Quentin Bigot with a hammer, the golden vein seems very thin and the specter of a new fiasco hangs over the French, two years after the failure. of the Doha Worlds (2 podiums, no success).

The overall picture is hardly glowing in view of the results recorded in recent months: only three athletes (Djilali Bedrani, Quentin Bigot and Renaud Lavillenie) are part of the world top 8 in their discipline in 2021.

To make matters worse, a cascade of injuries affected some headliners such as Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, Pierre-Ambroise Bosse or even Jimmy Vicaut, with very disturbed preparations.

Thus the French Championships, supposed to draw up an inventory of national athletics just before the Games, constituted a free warning at the end of June: a rain of forfeits and performances at half mast, with the exception of the hurdler Wilhem Belocian, became the best European performer of the year over 110m hurdles (13 sec 15) and a solid contender for a medal.

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- Sinistrosis -

The 2012 Olympic champion and reigning vice-champion in the pole vault Renaud Lavillenie, in full rebirth this winter, suffered a sprained left ankle just before flying to Tokyo.

What to add to the ambient sinistrosis.

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"I am not worried, we are in a particular context. It is always interesting to compare the performances but we must be wary, there we will see everyone on the same competition", tried to reassure Tuesday Florian Rousseau, director high performance at the Federation.

"54% of our team improved their best performance in 2021. I have no doubt that the athletes are responding with their best level of form at the Games," he added.

Gathered for several weeks in training course in Kobe, the French arrive at the Olympic Village from Wednesday, D-3 or D-2 of their event.

Among the objectives, to introduce the biggest event in the world to the "Paris-2024 generation", who only have three years left to hatch.

"Whether they are fully involved in these Games, the Olympics is not a question of age. Our role is to support them as well as possible. We are there to create good conditions for them. The Olympic experience, whether it is successful or not, will be virtuous ", wants to believe Florian Rousseau.

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