Epoupa’s rotation in the lead offers an unexpected extension to 37 years old.
She is a mother, mother of a 6-year-old Liam… but she is also a lover of the game in the noble sense of the term, so at 37 years old, Bintou Dieme-Marizy therefore continues to frequent the courts of France.
And if she is not yet the oldest – Céline Dumerc and Kristen Mann are just ahead of her -, Bintou enjoys… especially as “I started with an idea of reconversion, in the business, after last season at Nantes-Rezé”, says the person concerned.
At 37, after consecutive episodes in Calais, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, Saint-Amand, Toulouse, Le Havre, Lyon, Tarbes, Nantes-Rezé (phew!) Interspersed with adventures abroad (Soller-Mariana and Tenerife / Spain, Pecs / Hungary), this retreat was totally justified.
But a meeting, that of Ahmed Mbombo Njoya (Valéry Demory’s assistant) at AfroBasket in Yaoundé, coach of Cameroon victorious over Senegal… of Bintou during the match for 3rd place, changed the situation.
“He told me that Valéry was looking for a back-up to Olivia (époupa), a project with ambitions and as I did not want to have completed my career on this relegation to LF2 with Nantes-Rezé, I said yes “, she says with all the enthusiasm of a kid.
The identity of the trainer was not trivial in his decision because this Ebroïcienne by birth had seen him play for the ALM Évreux (1997 to 2000) in Pro A.
Bintou: “I live my happiness day by day and week after week”
Coming until the return, unscheduled, of the Serbian Ana Dabovic, her freelance will therefore go, at a minimum, until the trip to Ekaterinburg (December 21, Editor’s note) … or even more if affinities.
“But I don’t want to think about it. I live my happiness day by day, week by week, bringing everything I can to the team”, explains the one who had a one-month break after AfroBasket “that I had finished quite tired. But that’s not mistaken, from the first sessions, very structured, I had a lot of fun.”
In addition to the rotation so precious to Olivia époupa, the n ° 4 of the Gazelles who rather leaves the shooting tickets (she took only 8 in four matches!) To her teammates, is indeed concentrating on other aspects.
“I defended very hard against Charnay. But I am not here to score, the “stats” do not interest me much and I am rather happy overall with what I bring “, she judges with her immense experience.
The one that earned him to evoke us “awesome girls in a group that is living well, despite the results. There are ups and downs, it’s up to us to correct the loss of balls and play more with our heads. It is the second part of the championship that will count. The Euroleague is not the priority but we play these matches to win them… ” The message is clear.
