From our special correspondent in Tokyo,
There must be a minute or two on the clock in Yoyogi’s room, and everyone has long understood that France will complete their Olympic Handball Grand Slam. The familiar song Who does not jump is not French escapes from the stand just below. The boys, titled the day before against Denmark, came to support the women’s team, despite their small eyes. A few seconds later, the two teams answer each other like two kops from a football stadium on an improvised ola. The tricolor handball has already known glory days, but at this moment, it lives its best hours.
“I thought they would be sleeping”
The good vibes had been spreading for a while. “The Olympic village is gradually emptying, so it has built a real solidarity between all team sports”, smiles Pauline Coatanea. Solidarity that nothing has been able to shake, not even the nicely tipsy boys who come home on time, making a hell of a din on Saturday night, waking some of them. “I did not expect to see them here because I understood that they had been partying, I thought they would be sleeping, laughs Grace Zaadi”. They were right on time though, singing a Marseillaise to lift your hairs, despite the surrounding void.
🗣 “I knew we would go to the end”
🇫🇷 🥇 😍 The reaction and tears of joy of Allison Pineau after the victory of the Blue in the final against the Russians (30-25) # Tokyo2020 #Olympic Games
▶ ️ Follow the Olympics live: https://t.co/pCKRdHbCMe pic.twitter.com/6On5lsAtZi
– francetvsport (@francetvsport) August 8, 2021
“Me that stressed me more than anything else”, jokes Pauletta Foppa, whose nervousness was not however seen on the ground, where she crushed the Russian defense at the pivot. “They won gold, I couldn’t see myself doing less well. When I heard them, I said to myself “P… they are there”, must be assured. “” We heard them take up our war cry “Close shops”, from there we were launched “, continues Coatanea. Grace Zaadi has no words: “It’s so beautiful to see French handball like that, it’s really the spirit of hand.”
An almost unprecedented feat
Two Olympic champion teams at the same time, a feat only achieved twice in history, and in a much less demanding competitive context: the USSR in 1976, Yugoslavia in 1984. Kentin Mahé tells us this. before leaving for the airport: “The two teams at the top at the same time, it’s historic. We show that the job has been well done in recent years. Well done, it’s almost a bit stingy. Two finals won against the two tormentors of Rio in less than 24 hours, we would not have typed in the Children’s Booklet to bet.
And Philippe Bana? The president of the Federation would have mortgaged his house without problem. “We weren’t favorites but we knew we could foil the Russians or the Danes because we have already done this route forty times. French handball is no longer afraid, it has been at the top of a 30-meter wave for a quarter of a century. The pitfalls, we had them, we fell, we went back up, we know. Why are we going to take Olivier Krumbholz back to girls before Rio? It was because he knew the way. “
The London fiasco had, however, temporarily cost his place to the historic manager of the Bleues, because the French women’s team failed to materialize like the Experts. Since then, she has won everything, until the Olympic consecration. “I’m happy for the double, but even happier for them, blows Nikola Karabatic, from the top of its three titles. We know the difficulty of winning this first Olympic title. “
“The boys’ cut-and-paste started much later,” Bana explains. But we quickly caught up with it since this surprise second place at the 1999 worlds. ”Five million budget for men a year, as much for women. “Same prices, same supervision, same standards, same cost. Parity is like excellence, it is a state of mind. “
“History is written together”
A state of mind that can be read in the small details of everyday life. “At the base, the Federation had put a slogan home of handball, says Méline Nocandy. It was “History is written together”. And both teams are Olympic champions. It’s such pride to represent France in this sport, I don’t know if handball can climb higher than that. One would even tend to think that he climbed Olympus a little too early, because doing better in Paris has become impossible in a magical weekend.
Philippe Bana shakes his head: “I always say to the players when I see them competing:” Our best day has not yet come. “These people carry something bigger than them. You call it what you want, but on the best day in our history, it could be winning the Olympic title at home at the same time. It’s mission impossible but as they always do at the end, you never know. »Where do we sign?