Tokyo (AFP)

With only one medal, in silver, reported by Florent Manaudou over 50 m on Sunday, French swimming has had its worst Olympic record for more than twenty years and the Sydney Games in 2000.

If, apart from Manaudou, some installed swimmers did not present their best face, the young generation, Maxime Grousset and Léon Marchand in the lead, rose to the challenge of their first Olympic adventure.

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Manaudou as a "patriarch"

Money as in 2016, after gold in 2012, thanks to the two best times of his second career (21.53 in the semi-finals and 21.55 in the final), all after a post-Rio break of thirty months before plunging again in spring 2019: Florent Manaudou raised his bet in the Tokyo basin.

Only the Caeleb Dressel rocket deprived him of gold.

National technical director Julien Issoulié is full of praise for the now three-time Olympic medalist in the one-way ticket.

"He was monstrous in London (in 2012) taking everyone by surprise. In Rio, he does not go far to remake a title. And there, with all that has happened, he gets back in the right spirit, the right relaxation. He's one of the greatest French sportsmen, "he said.

"Olympic medalists over three editions, they are few. And he is among these athletes of incredible humility, a rather disconcerting charisma, really positive for the environment", greeted Issoulié.

"When we put him somewhere, it helps everyone. He's a bit of a patriarch, but he doesn't take up space. We're lucky to have one like that," greets Issoulié.

Will it continue until 2024?

"Of course I want to experience the Games in my country, it must be incredible, but I don't know what my level of performance will be," replied Manaudou.

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Slow motion

Already world or European medalists, they are three in particular to have swam far from their best level: Charlotte Bonnet, 2018 European champion in the 200m, Mehdy Metella, 2017 world bronze medalist in the 100m, and David Aubry, 2019 world bronze medalist in the 800m.

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But this is not really a surprise, as they have sailed on sight in recent months, between injuries and persistent poor shape.

Metella (29) is struggling to recover from a shoulder operation in January 2020, Aubry from an injury to the same joint at the start of the year.

So none of the three has reached any individual final in six attempts.

Obviously penalizing for blue swimming.

Fantine Lesaffre, 2018 European champion in the 400m medley but also struggling until recently, slipped well in the final, but without being able to join in the fight for the podium.

The good news came from Marie Wattel (24 years old), a link between the two generations, personal best lowered by more than 8 / 10th in the 100m butterfly (6th) and emotionally, long her Achilles heel, at the rendezvous. -you.

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Generation 2024 with honors

"We knew that this season, it was going to be fair for us" but "four or five have managed to break glass ceilings, and that will put them in another process," said Issoulié.

"We were particularly afraid of what was at stake and of their ability to pass the laps, but some have managed to do so, that's positive," he said.

We think here of Maxime Grousset (22), promising fourth in the 100m behind the Dressel-Chalmers-Kolesnikov trio, more than a second cut off from his personal best in just over two months (from 48.56 to 47.52 in the final of the 4x100 m in Tokyo).

To Léon Marchand, who swam in the waters of his French record to invite himself to the final of the 400m medley at 19 years old (6th).

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And, to a lesser extent, to Yohann Ndoye Brouard, capable of setting his best time in 100m backstroke (52.77) at the start of the 4x100m men's medley, four days after his mishap in the semi-finals of the 100m backstroke, when he hit the wall on the turn.

Or Cyrielle Duhamel, personal best in quick succession in the series and semi-finals of the 200m medley.

Issoulié appreciates: "We have good soil for 2024".

© 2021 AFP