The day before, Les Bleues only placed sixth in the final of the team competition, even in the absence of Russia, a historic stronghold of world gymnastics excluded from the competition after the invasion of Ukraine.

They pulled themselves together the next day, transforming into medals - all in bronze - three of their four places in the apparatus finals.

For Charpy (20), third on bars with a score of 14.166 behind the German Elisabeth Seitz (14.433), crowned in front of the crowded and noisy Munich public, and the Italian Alice D'Amato (14.400), "this medal represents many things".

Deprived of the Olympics last summer by a serious injury to the left knee (complete rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament with meniscus injury and sprain of the collateral ligament) which occurred in training, "a very big blow", the adopted Stéphanoise did not return to competition until the spring.

Her knee remains recalcitrant, as shown by her painful landing at the exit of the bars - she had to leave the mat supported by two members of the management of the France team, including her trainer Eric Hagard.

"Want to enjoy"

"It hurt me a lot, it fell on the same knee, I don't know if it's related. But there, I don't really want to think about it, I want to enjoy it. I will take care of the knee after. This medal, it really does me good, "she appreciates.

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"She is also for the team, because yesterday (Saturday) was really hard," adds Charpy, who fell on the bars in training in 2018 left his face multi-fractured and since then, with more about ten screws and plates fixed.

Charpy already had a European bronze medal on her list, obtained on the beam in 2019. She also shared with the French team the European silver in the all-around team competition in 2018.

For Héduit (18) like Friess (19) on the other hand, this is their first international medal.

With an average of 13.599 for her two jumps, Freiss, who passed first of the eight finalists, was beaten by the Hungarian Zsofia Kovacs (13.933) and the Italian Asia D'Amato (13.716), an ankle injured on her second reception.

Héduit, who remained at the foot of the podium in the individual all-around on Thursday, scored 13.400 on the beam, like the Briton Ondine Achampong, credited with a better execution, and behind the German Emma Leonie Malewski (13.466).

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"When I saw my coach and the France team jump into the audience, I understood, smiles Freiss. I don't realize yet, I'm going to savor this medal."

"I didn't look at all the girls who were passing before, I paced around the room to stay active. When I started my movement, I was hyper-focused, I wasn't shaking, says Héduit It's all the work rewarded, third European on the beam in senior, it's just incredible."

© 2022 AFP