Saitama (Japan) (AFP)

The American basketball players, against whom France will play their qualification for the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Games on Monday, Gabby Williams, a newcomer to the Blue but already essential, knows them by heart to face them in the WNBA, where only the win counts.

In search of a 7th Olympic coronation in a row, unbeaten in official competition since September 2006, "Team USA" is the big favorite of the Olympic tournament.

And as a result of this confrontation, certainly without any stake for her, already assured of finishing first, but whose score will condition the maintenance of the Blue in the competition.

After the authoritarian success against Nigeria (87-62) on Friday, coach Valérie Garnier, aware of the difficulty of the task, assured that the "will is to win. Or to lose by the smallest possible gap".

A speech in which we can logically guess that the second option seems the most realistic.

But for Gabby Williams, omnipresent against the Nigerians (13 pts, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 interceptions), only the first option counts.

"You have to go into the meeting with the idea that you're going to win, without having any regrets. The result will be what it will be, but you really have to go there with confidence, telling yourself that you can 'impose. If we show more heart, we can beat them, "she hammered.

- Passed by UConn -

Valérie Garnier, drinking the words of her player, knows that she has a leader in her locker room, although she arrived on tiptoe barely two and a half months ago.

Excellent during the Euro played in June, punctuated by a defeat in the final, she won in a group where she is unanimous by her talent, her commitment and her versatility on the floor, at the image of Nicolas Batum among the Blues.

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24-year-old Williams, born in Sparks, Nevada, has dual nationality and can play for the Blues thanks to her French origins on the maternal side.

"Now that I play for the Blue, there is no Franco-American who is worth," insisted the one who went through the prestigious University UConn (Connecticut), reference for women's basketball, and came out imbued with 'a culture of winning pegged to sneakers.

"There, you have to win in every game. Losing is like the end of the world. I try to instill this mentality in the France team. I know it's not really normal to think like that. , but if here a defeat is followed by a + ok we have lost, we will do better next time +, at UConn it is + we have no right to lose! + ", she explained.

- "Mamba-mentality" -

Drafted in fourth position by Chicago Sky in 2018, she has since alternated between the North American League and the European championships.

In Montpellier first in 2019/20, then in Hungary with Sopron, playing in the Euroleague of which she was named best defender (15.9 pts, 3.8 rebounds, 3 assists on average).

In 2022, she will return to play in the United States, at the Los Angeles Sparks where she has just been transferred.

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In the meantime, on Monday, she will face players she knows perfectly well, with increased motivation.

"I can't wait to play against ex-teammates, some friends. From now on, I'm going to think, I'm going to eat, I'm going to sleep USA," in order to beat them.

A sort of "Mamba-mentality" emanates from the wing (1.80 m) in her approach to a crucial meeting.

No coincidence when we know that she was close to Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna - of whom she was the favorite player -, both tragically disappeared at the end of January 2020 in a helicopter accident near Los Angeles.

Fan of music, she tattooed acronyms of well-known artists and groups on her fingers, AC / DC, Prince, Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury ... No doubt that the one whose nickname has long been sung by Alain Bashung would love to hear resound "We are the champions" in Tokyo.

© 2021 AFP