Tokyo (AFP)
They shone or disappoint during the Tokyo Olympics which ended on Sunday.
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French Sports Co: There were five French indoor team sports teams in Tokyo and France is distributed with five medals including three titles.
An extraordinary success!
Handball players, for the third time, handball players and volleyball players, for the first time, won gold.
Basketball is not to be outdone with the men's silver and the women's bronze.
This did not really inspire other sports since France finished eighth nation (10 gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze) for a total of 33 medals out of the expected 40.
The coach of the France volleyball team, Laurent Tilie, is carried in triumph by his players, after their victory in the Olympic final, 3 sets to 2 against Russia, on August 7, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games JUNG Yeon -I AFP
French judo: The French judokas were the biggest medals purveyors of these Olympics for France, with eight podiums, including two titles.
The great lady was Clarisse Agbégnénou.
The tricolor flag bearer won both in gold.
First solo in the -63 kg category, she ended her week with gold in the new and interesting mixed team event.
The joy of French judokas, Olympic champions by mixed teams, July 31, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Franck FIFE AFP / Archives
Caeleb Dressel: Expected like the star of the pools, Dressel responded present.
He had left Rio without an individual title, he returned from Tokyo with five gold medals - out of six possible - (4x100m freestyle, 100m, 100m butterfly, 50m, 4x100m medley).
The only setback, the 4x100m mixed medley (5th).
The American Caeleb Dressel, during the 100m butterfly series, July 29, 2021 at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Jonathan NACKSTRAND AFP / Archives
Allyson Felix: The 35-year-old American shone again in Tokyo.
Bronze medalist in the 400m and then gold in the 4x400m relay, the Californian has established herself in Olympic history.
With 11 medals in five participations, Allyson Felix becomes the most awarded female athlete, ahead of Jamaican-turned-Slovenian Merlene Ottey (9).
And it exceeds the track record of athletics the legend Carl Lewis (10 medals).
Only the Finnish Paavo Nurmi did better (12).
The Americans Sydney Mclaughlin, Allyson Felix, Dalilah Muhammad and Athing Mu, Olympic 4x400m relay champions, August 7, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Javier SORIANO AFP
Elaine Thompson-Herah: A fratricidal duel between Jamaicans Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was expected.
It was a solo recital.
Thompson-Herah had a 100-200m double in Rio in 2016. She does even better in Tokyo by adding gold in the 4x100m relay to the 100m and 200m titles.
This is the first time since 1988 and Florence Griffith-Joyner that a woman has achieved such a treble.
The joy of Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah, Olympic champion in the 100m in front of her compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, July 31, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Jewel SAMAD AFP / Archives
Warholm, McLaughlin and Rojas: Three world records have been broken in the Olympic stadium.
The first came from the saltire with Yulimar Rojas (15.67 m).
The Venezuelan was crowned in the triple jump by erasing the Ukrainian Inessa Kravets, a 26-year-old record (15.50 m).
The track then burned the feet of Norwegian Karsten Warholm and American Sydney McLaughlin.
Both over 400 hurdles improved their own mark (45.94 for Warholm and 51.46 for McLaughlin).
The Norwegian Karsten Warholm, Olympic champion in the 400 hurdles, with a new world record, on August 3, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Jewel SAMAD AFP / Archives
The United States: The Americans once again lead the medal table, with 39 gold, 41 silver and 33 bronze.
This has been the case since 1996, with the exception of the Beijing Olympics, which China had dominated at home.
The United States came close to being beaten but topped China with two titles on the final day.
Florent Manaudou: Rio money tasted like regret, Tokyo money tasted like gold.
Florent Manaudou won his bet by securing second place in the 50m freestyle, after having moved away from the pools until spring 2019. Olympic champion 2012, Olympic vice-champion 2016 and 2020, Manaudou achieved an incredible "treble" and especially brings back from Tokyo the only French medal of the basins.
The joy of Florent Manaudou, silver medalist in the 50m freestyle, on August 1, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Attila KISBENEDEK AFP / Archives
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Naomi Osaka: The Japanese Naomi Osaka was the face of these Olympics.
She had the honor of lighting the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony, weeks after openly disclosing her mental health issues.
But the reality on the ground, from which she moved away some time after Roland Garros, caught up with her and the world No. 2 was eliminated in the round of 16.
Japanese Naomi Osaka, after her defeat to Czech Marketa Vondrousova, July 27, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Tiziana FABI AFP / Archives
Novak Djokovic: Serbian Novak Djokovic.
"Djoko" seemed, him, to be on a royal road to seek in September the "Golden Slam", which corresponds to the Grand Slam (Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open) to which is added the Olympic title .
But the Olympic adventure ended badly, with two defeats, in the semi-finals and then for the bronze medal match, setbacks accompanied by the announcement of an injury.
Serbian Novak Djokovic, after his defeat in the bronze medal match against Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, July 31, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Vincenzo PINTO AFP / Archives
Simone Biles: American Simone Biles was on her way to history.
To Rio's four gold medals, the American gymnast hoped to add six.
In the grip of a loss of confidence and dangerous landmarks problems in space, Biles experienced nightmarish Olympics, giving up during the team event and giving up all the other finals except the last one, the beam, his apparatus. predilection.
She won the bronze medal, which is added to the team silver, so far from her standards.
The coach of the France volleyball team, Laurent Tilie, is carried in triumph by his players, after their victory in the Olympic final, 3 sets to 2 against Russia, on August 7, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games JUNG Yeon -I AFP
Van der Poel: The Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, favorite in the Olympic mountain biking event, retired with two laps to go after having crashed heavily on the first lap at the foot of Mount Fuji. Raymond Poulidor's grandson, who spent six days in yellow in the Tour de France in July, saw his medal hopes dashed after just a few minutes of racing.
French cycling: Road, mountain biking, BMX, track. France arrived ambitious in Tokyo, the president of the French Federation Michel Callot claiming the goal of six medals. Missed ! It will be two bronze medals in men's and American team sprint. The rest ? Discretion on the road, even if Gaudu was present (7th), fiasco in mountain biking where medals were expected both for the girls (Ferrand-Prévot and Lecomte) and for the boys (Sarrou), mess in BMX, with three French in the finals of 8, and a Frenchwoman, but no podium.
The closed door: Imposed by the Japanese government which is struggling with a local increase in the number of Covid-19 cases, the closed door gave these Olympics a special atmosphere, and especially not the usual party. Grandstands almost empty everywhere, silent stadiums, except for the cries of the only teammates authorized to occupy the stands, these Olympics left a bitter impression, with sad medal ceremonies in the silence of a cathedral. On television, the impression was matched by the achievement.
Lavillenie: The Clermontois at 34 was aiming for a third Olympic podium after gold in London and silver in Rio.
The ace !
Victim of a sprained left ankle in mid-July, Lavillenie could not defend his chances in the final, after being injured during the warm-up to his right ankle.
Sweden's Armand Duplantis was inaccessible, but Lavillenie's eighth place, even in these conditions, is a disappointment.
The coach of the France volleyball team, Laurent Tilie, is carried in triumph by his players, after their victory in the Olympic final, 3 sets to 2 against Russia, on August 7, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games JUNG Yeon -I AFP
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Kohei Uchimura: The Japanese gymnast arrived at the Olympics to write a final page in his Olympic history. But it was a disaster when he fell off the horizontal bars and failed to advance to the final. Olympic champion in 2012 and 2016 in the all-around competition, he had to settle for a single apparatus in Tokyo to spare his bruised body. It was a failure.
The age of some medalists: The IOC wishes to rejuvenate its audience.
Tokyo-2020 has added sports in this direction, with the introduction of skateboarding, surfing and rock climbing.
These sports have visibly convinced the IOC, which finds them "refreshing".
The presence on some catwalks, especially on skateboards, of children as young as 13 years old is hardly appealing.
The Olympic street champion Japanese Momiji Nishiya is 13 years old, the silver and bronze medalists of the other skate event, the park, are also 13 years old (in a few days for one of them).
The coach of the France volleyball team, Laurent Tilie, is carried in triumph by his players, after their victory in the Olympic final, 3 sets to 2 against Russia, on August 7, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games JUNG Yeon -I AFP
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French football: more than the French team itself, it is the whole of French football which bears the responsibility for the fiasco (elimination in the first round). Coach Sylvain Ripoll was only able to build his team at the last moment and with players unknown to the general public, some playing in L2. Only one has succeeded in his Olympics: André-Pierre Gignac, the striker who plays in Mexico, scored four goals including a hat-trick against South Africa. In a tweet he perfectly summed up the general feeling "No THANKS to some French clubs".
Riner: Teddy Riner, double Olympic champion over 100 kg, in London and Rio, was preparing Tokyo with one goal, a third title.
Concern arose when he revealed an injury that had occurred earlier this year that kept him away from the tatami mats for two months.
The disappointment came in the quarterfinals, where he was surprised by Russian Tamerlan Bashaev.
The Guadeloupe still managed to grab the bronze and ended his stay in the joy of gold by mixed teams.
But the essential was not there.
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