Wednesday July 28 – Day 5
The French of the day
It’s a bit like team sports day: the basketball players (3×3) will seek a place in the final, the footballers will play their future in the competition against Japan, the basketball players will try to confirm, against the Czech Republic, their success against the United States, the volleyball players will want to win a second consecutive game and the handball players to make a three in a row. To follow also Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias, who will be in the final of the two-scull (rowing), Axel Clerget and Margaux Pinot on the tatami mats (who have been smiling at us these last days), or Rémi Cavagna and Juliette Labous during the counter-la- watch in cycling.
The star of the day
She shouldn’t miss it twice. Disappointing, like all the Batavian collective during the road race, Anna van der Breggen will be the big favorite of the time trial, which must be contested from 4:30 am, for very early risers or night owls. . Olympic champion in Rio, online, multiple world champion and seven times winner of the Walloon Flèche, Van Der Breggen (31) wants to finish in style before ending her career.
The medal that we (really) not expect
It’s a bit of a paradox: at the start of the competition, they were expected to receive a medal. But the French 3×3 basketball team has achieved such a complicated course that we have lost hope. Suddenly, seeing them in the semi-finals (10 hours) is a bit of a miracle. And then, facing the United States, which had massacred them in the group stage, it is difficult to see how a gold medal could arrive. But since everything is improbable with the teammates of Ana Maria Filip, on a misunderstanding, it can pass.
The other events not to be missed
We will obviously have an eye on badminton. Still prepare a good little bottle of water next to you, because in terms of heartbeats, things will go up very high with the French Xuefei Qi and Brice Leverdez. To cool off a bit, we will also continue to follow windsurfing and the route to gold of Charline Picon and Thomas Goyard.
The reading board
It is a national drama which is happening on the side of the Great Wall. Table tennis is said to be slipping away from Chinese table tennis players. A small cataclysm in a country accustomed to eating almost all the gold medals since 1988.