Thirteen months before the Paris Olympics, the big stars of French sport are declaring their love for the Olympic Games. Footballer Antoine Griezmann and rugby player Antoine Dupont have made known their desire to participate. It remains to be seen whether their clubs and selections will allow it, while the Olympics are an event apart from the international calendar.
Published on: 06/19/2023 – 14:53Modified on: 06/19/2023 – 16:04
They are both French. Their names are Antoine. They are at the top of their respective disciplines and want to be at the 2024 Olympics. Antoine Griezmann, vice-captain of the French football team and Antoine Dupont, captain of the rugby union team, have expressed their desire to compete in Paris in the summer of 2024, despite the obstacles to be overcome.
In a press conference on Sunday June 18, Antoine Griezmann said that participating in the Paris Olympics in 2024 was “a dream”.
[#JO2024????] Griezmann dreams of competing in the 2024 Olympics with France????
“That would be one of my sweetest dreams. Can you imagine wearing the jersey of the French team, in Paris, at the Olympic Games, for a planetary meeting? It gives you chills. »
(Le Figaro) pic.twitter.com/a1dFOJyaMu
— Footballogue (@Footballogue) June 19, 2021
Players at the mercy of their club
“If I am called, I will put extraordinary pressure to be allowed to do them.” “It’s a dream, a goal, it’s in France, it’s to represent France. The Olympics, everyone watches them on TV,” he said.
The men’s Olympic football tournament is reserved for players aged 23 or under, but three exceptions are possible for each formation.
“I haven’t talked about it with my coach or my managers (at Atlético Madrid, editor’s note) but it would be a dream for me”, however conceded the 32-year-old player.
A significant nuance because the Olympic football tournament is not part of the official FIFA calendar, which therefore obliges employers to release players. The clubs will therefore be able to oppose the summons of their players to selection during this period. An obstacle that could also prevent Kylian Mbappé, who has long proclaimed his desire to be in the game before putting water in his wine in recent months.
“I always said it was a dream for me to play them, but I also said that I will not force, that I will be at the disposal of the club because it is not a Fifa competition”, said he thus assured before the match against Gibraltar in the Euro qualifiers, at the beginning of June.
???? Kylian Mbappé: “The Olympics? I always said it was a dream. But I won’t force it, and I will remain available to the club, because it’s not a FIFA competition. » pic.twitter.com/MiU5pTZ5yE
— Actu Foot (@ActuFoot_) June 15, 2023
During the Tokyo Olympics, the constitution of the football team had turned into a nightmare for Sylvain Ripoll. The Bleuets coach has come up against multiple refusals from European clubs to release young players, complicating preparation for the competition.
For Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé, the situation will be further complicated by the holding of Euro-2024 just before the Games. There are only ten days between the Euro 2024 final (July 14) and the opening match of the Olympics. Under these conditions, it is difficult to imagine their employers – currently Atlético Madrid and PSG – granting permission that would compromise their physical preparation and their participation at the start of the 2024/2025 season.
The two players can however count on the support of Philippe Diallo, new president of the FFF: “There is a kind of higher interest of the country which must predominate. The whole world will be watching us. We must align our best team, with the captain of the Blues [Mbappé]“, said the leader in Le Monde, June 10.
A plan is in place for Dupont
On the side of Antoine Dupont, the obstacles are different but are in the process of being ironed out, revealed on Saturday June 17 The Parisian. Quadripartite discussions have taken place between the French Rugby Federation, the National League, Stade Toulousain and the player, who recently won the Top 14, so that he can participate.
Considered one of the best players in the world in terms of rugby union, Antoine Dupont is therefore applying for a sevens rugby tournament. However, the transfer from one discipline to another is not obvious: more physically demanding than that of XV, rugby sevens also mobilizes a completely different strategic palette.
The compromise for Dupont’s participation would be to let him skip the 2024 Six Nations Tournament and then the summer tour of the XV of France in Argentina. It would be a question of allowing him, instead, to play tournaments of the world rugby sevens circuit in order to familiarize himself with this discipline and with the current France group. This solution would also make it possible not to weigh too heavily on his club and employer, the Toulouse Stadium, which would not be deprived of it for sevens rugby events in addition to the Tournament.
Stakeholders are enthusiastic about this configuration: “Didier Lacroix [le président du stade Toulousain], we talked about it and he is OK on the subject. Antoine Dupont has a keen sense of the interest of the country and of rugby and there, both are at stake. We must first develop rugby sevens because he is not yet of age in the clubs , but that Antoine Dupont wants to come and play, it’s a phenomenal chance for rugby,” said Florian Grill, the new president of the French Rugby Federation, on RTL.
A good will of all which traces the way forward for football.
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