ALPINE SKIING: three medals, including a title
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Johan Clarey: indestructible.
He marked the history of the Games by becoming Olympic vice-champion in downhill, a discipline of all dangers, at the age of 41, a record for longevity in alpine skiing.
Celebrated as a victory, his medal won on the unique "The Rock" track rewards an endearing athlete with a career marked by injuries, who took his time to shine at the end of his career.
Johan Clarey after the descent of the 2022 Olympics on February 7, 2022 in Yanqing Joe KLAMAR AFP
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Clément Noël: gifted.
Expected at the top for several years, Clément Noël has fulfilled expectations with the first Olympic title in French alpine skiing since Antoine Dénériaz on the descent in 2006 in Sestrières.
At 24, Noël knew how to produce his best ski on the right day, while he has been looking for consistency for several years in this discipline which requires you to ski on a tightrope.
Clément Noel with his 2022 Olympics slalom gold medal on February 16, 2022 in Yanqing Dimitar DILKOFF AFP
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Mathieu Faivre: appeased.
The shady Mathieu Faivre conquered the bronze of the giant, a year after his title of world champion.
Obtained in difficult conditions, his podium definitively erases his failed exit from the Pyeongchang Games in 2018, from which he had been dismissed earlier than expected because of comments deemed contrary to team spirit.
Mathieu Faivre in the second round of the giant slalom of the 2022 Olympics on February 13, 2022 in Yanqing Fabrice COFFRINI AFP
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Alexis Pinturault: proven.
The leader of the Blues collapsed, in tears in front of the press, after his fall, painful for the shoulder and for the morale, during the alpine combined of which he was favorite.
Crowned world No.1 last year, this winning machine has not regained "the flame" and energy this season.
The Games, which he left without an individual medal and with the observation of being mentally exhausted, were no exception.
Alexis Pinturault falls in the slalom of the alpine combined Olympic Games-2022 on February 10, 2022 in Yanqing Fabrice COFFRINI AFP
BIATHLON: seven medals, including three titles
Quentin Fillon Maillet: boosted.
The locomotive of the French biathlon was on time every day, or almost.
In gold, on the first solo, the individual despite two minutes of penalty, he flew over these Olympic Games-2022 with five medals, and missed an exceptional Grand Slam by nothing (six medals out of six possible) during the last test, the mass-start (4th).
After the silver in the sprint, he went for the gold in dantesque conditions in the pursuit.
Adding the money from the two relays (mixed, then men's), he is THE star of these Games!
Unheard of for nearly a century.
He is the third Frenchman to return from the Games (winter and summer combined) with five medals, after Roger Ducret (fencing, Paris-1924) and Julien Brulé (archery, Antwerp-1920).
Quentin Fillon Maillet after his victory in the pursuit on February 13, 2022 in Zhangjiakou Jewel SAMAD AFP
Justine Braisaz-Bouchet: unexpected.
Not selected for the mixed relay, missed her first races (40th in the individual where her teammate Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet won silver, and 48th in the sprint), package for the pursuit, the native of Albertville s is covered in gold in mass-start, at the end of a windy race with twists and turns.
She is the second French biathlete to be Olympic solo champion after Florence Baverel-Robert, crowned in the sprint in 2006 in Turin.
Justine Braisaz-Bouchet during the mass-start of the 2022 Olympics on February 18, 2022 in Zhangjiakou Jewel SAMAD AFP
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING: a medal
The sprint.
Distress.
Richard Jouve and Lucas Chanavat, the two French sprinters, skating aces and regulars on the podiums in the World Cup, had checked this appointment for eight years and knew that he would not come back for another eight years because of the game of the alternation between classic style and skating.
Hence their immense distress after their elimination in the semi-finals.
Bronze medal in the relay around his neck a few days later, Richard Jouve, still affected, confided that he "took several days to recover".
The tricolor relay.
Used to.
Expected by force of habit, less for their failed start to the Games, the tricolor cross-country skiers were invited for the third time in a row to the Olympic Games podium.
With Maurice Manificat as always, returning at one point like a rocket to the Norwegian Johannes Klaebo, he made money dream for a while and erase the delicate start to the fortnight.
Maurice Manificat welcomed by his teammates at the arrival of the 4x10 km relay of the 2022 Olympics on February 13, 2022 in Zhangjiakou Pierre-Philippe MARCOU AFP
FIGURE SKATING: one medal, one title
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Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron: released.
Four years after the bitter money and the misadventure of the dress in Pyeongchang, the two ice dancers (26 and 27 years old respectively) conquered in Beijing the only gold which was missing from their exceptional prize list, with a record score.
"Ineffable" for her, "a washing machine of emotions" for him, who "restrained himself from screaming".
"It's amazing the weight of this medal. It's the symbol of everything we've been through," explains Papadakis.
French ice had not known Olympic gold for twenty years.
Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron during the free dance of the Olympic Games-2022 on February 14, 2022 in Beijing Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP
FREESTYLE SKIING: a medal
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Benjamin Cavet: "stolen".
The coach of the French mogul ski team Ludovic Didier burst into tears after the fourth place of his protege "Ben" Cavet, whom he considers to have been "robbed" of the bronze medal, awarded by the judges to the Japanese Ikuma Horishima despite several errors.
“My descent was not perfect either,” tempered the 28-year-old skier, a handsome player.
Benjamin Cavet during the final of the 2022 Olympics mogul ski event on February 5, 2022 in Zhangjiakou Ben STANSALL AFP
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Perrine Laffont: dented.
Ultra-dominant for most of the last Olympiad, the 2018 Olympic champion in mogul skiing had seen the competition get seriously closer since the start of the season and the Beijing Olympics confirmed the trend.
Very (too?) expected, the 23-year-old Ariégeoise never completely managed to let go in the final.
She also failed at the foot of the podium, without having much to blame the judges for.
Johan Clarey after the descent of the 2022 Olympics on February 7, 2022 in Yanqing Joe KLAMAR AFP
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Tess Ledeux: aerial.
The 20-year-old freestyle skier went through all the emotions during the Olympic fortnight.
The disappointment, first, to have seen the gold of the big air escape him on the wire in favor of the Chinese Eileen Gu, who pulled out of her hat the "double cork 1620" (rotation of four and a half turns) that La Plagnarde had so far been the only one to succeed in competition.
Her tears dried, Ledeux finally deservedly enjoyed her silver medal.
"Tired", she had to settle for seventh place the following week in the slopestyle event, of which she was one of the favorites.
Johan Clarey after the descent of the 2022 Olympics on February 7, 2022 in Yanqing Joe KLAMAR AFP
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Kevin Rolland: Miracle.
Less than three years after coming close to death in a terrible fall, the flag bearer of the French team in Beijing ended his Olympic love affair at the age of 32 on a high note with a "very respectable" sixth place in half pipe skiing.
"I would have been told that three years ago on my hospital bed, I would have more than signed," said the bronze medalist from Sochi in 2014, who should now distance himself from the competition to devote himself to video projects.
Johan Clarey after the descent of the 2022 Olympics on February 7, 2022 in Yanqing Joe KLAMAR AFP
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SNOWBOARD: a medal
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The French snowboardcross team: stuck.
The Blues had high hopes of a medal in the mixed team event, which was entering the program of the Games.
They quickly went up in smoke.
The two French duos involved, Chloé Trespeuch-Merlin Surget and Julia Pereira de Sousa-Loan Bozzolo, were eliminated in the quarter-finals.
Blame it on a waxing problem that disrupted their glide.
Fortunately, Trespeuch saved the honor of French snowboarding with his individual silver medal, eight years after his bronze in Sochi.
Johan Clarey after the descent of the 2022 Olympics on February 7, 2022 in Yanqing Joe KLAMAR AFP
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