Tokyo (AFP)

A genius in volleyball pursued by a somewhat deceptive reputation as a "bad boy", Earvin Ngapeth brought his sport out of the shadows in France, taking it to the title of Olympic champion thanks to a spectacular and unpredictable style.

Before him, French volleyball had to be content with accessories and remained the poor relation of indoor sports, compared to handball and basketball covered with medals.

Until the magical summer of 2015 when he won in quick succession with the Blues the World League in Brazil and the Euro in Bulgaria.

In Sofia, the last point of the final was pure Ngapeth: a back attack to the net, one of those "things that no one else does", as his former teammate Pierre Pujol says, which made his reputation.

"Ngapeth is the volleyball we love, fast, always different and played with a smile," said one of his coaches at the Italian club in Modena, Angelo Lorenzetti, in a Canal + documentary.

French volleyball player Earvin Ngapeth smashes against the Russians, during the final, August 7, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Antonin THUILLIER AFP

In Tokyo, his renewed energy, after a timid start, corresponded to the resurrection of the French launched from then on to the title.

The only star of his sport in France, the striker-receiver has never had any illusions about the origin of his notoriety, which is due as much to his off-field pranks as to his sporting exploits.

"If people know me, it's because I did bullshit," he told Le Figaro one day.

- A warm-blooded champion -

So, in 2019, he found himself briefly imprisoned in Brazil for touching the buttocks of a woman in a performance hall. Ngapeth has also appeared several times in the news section for cases whose media coverage has most often exceeded the seriousness. Previously, he had to explain himself to justice for a brawl in a nightclub in Montpellier (2013) and for an altercation with an SNCF controller (2015), cases concluded on appeal respectively by an acquittal and a simple fine. .

That Ngapeth is hot-blooded, nobody disputes it, especially not the coach Philippe Blain, who had excluded the hope then 19 years old in full World-2010 following a violent spat.

It is no coincidence that, to indulge in rap, his great passion outside volleyball, he chose the pseudonym Klima, given by a friend in reference to his changing character like the weather.

The joy of French volleyball player Earvin Ngapeth, after a point scored against Russia, in the final, August 7, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games JUNG Yeon-je AFP

But the majority of his teammates, far from describing a bad boy, have always spoken of "a real good person, sensitive and generous" (Pierre Pujol), of "someone whole, but simple in the end, d 'super endearing and very respectful, who has been very well educated "(Julien Lyneel). “People who know me know what I am,” he said himself.

Born in Saint-Raphaël in 1991, he is the son of a volleyball player, Eric Ngapeth, 220 times international in the 1980s (at the same time as future coaches Philippe Blain and Laurent Tillie) and fan of basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson .

Having become a club coach, the father coached the son at the start of his career in Tours (2008-2011) but their subsequent experience in the Russian club of Kemerovo (2013) turned sour when Earvin, uncomfortable in Siberia , unexpectedly packed up in high season to return to France.

It took over a year for her father to speak to her again.

- "Things that few people do" -

On the ground, Ngapeth is a phenomenon.

If he is not small (1.94 m), he does not make the difference thanks to his physique, even if he has a very fast arm that he puts at the service of his creativity and a "vision. instinctive of the game "(Laurent Tillie).

Lucid in the air, cunning, he has the gift of detecting the hole in the block or in the defense to conclude sometimes in force and sometimes in finesse, giving the impression of always improvising.

He is also renowned for his spectacular saves in defense, sometimes at the foot, a memory of his childhood years devoted to football.

French volleyball player Earvin Ngapeth, receiving a Russian service, during the final, August 7, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Yuri Cortez AFP

With one Euro and two World Leagues in Blue, a French Championship with Tours and one in Italy with Modena (where he will return after three seasons in Russia in Kazan), Ngapeth had already built a more than honorable track record, but which takes on a whole new volume with this title of Olympic champion.

© 2021 AFP