Highs and Lows: The Best and Worst of the 2023 Olympic World

DECRYPTION – Find out what we liked and disliked in 2023 from our specialists in the Olympic world.

FAVORITES

The formidable rise of Félix Lebrun

With his brother Alexis, Félix Lebrun represents the future of French table tennis. But no one expected this 17-year-old young man to break through so quickly, during an exceptional 2023 season for him between his title at the European Games and his victory at the WTT tournament in Antalya (not to mention the semi-finals). finals in Frankfurt, Goa and Lanzhou). So much so that he became the third youngest player in the history of table tennis to enter the world Top 10 behind the Japanese Harimoto Tomokazu (14 years, 10 months and 4 days) and the Chinese Fan Zhendong (16 years , 5 months and 9 days). All while doing the best promotion of his sport with spectacular points, which delight fans on social networks, in his very particular style of gripping the racket in a pen holder. Seven months before the Games, Félix Lebrun stands out as a possible medalist in Paris. Which says a lot about the excellence of his performance.

Read also Table tennis: Félix Lebrun, 17, joins the world top 10

French handball players with style

Despite an exceptional record for twenty years and their first world title won in 2003, the French handball players reaped many laurels, but also a certain number of criticisms on the quality of their offensive game. Impressive defensively, they could annoy or frustrate even their most loyal supporters with a few turnovers and other seemingly extremely simple missed shots. An observation which is no longer valid today, as the third world title that they won on December 17 against Norway (31-28) does not suffer from any dispute, nor from any downside. Always very solid, the Blues also showed a very exciting face, much more precise and fair than before. The 37 goals inflicted on Sweden in the semi-finals and the 20 goals scored in one period against Norway in the final are there to attest to this. So much so that if we loved them before, we love them from now on.

Read alsoHandball: Les Bleues await the Paris 2024 Olympics with desire

Read alsoHandball: the (so often) winning method of Les Bleues

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, the return to full light

In Glasgow, during the first XXL world championships bringing together the 13 cycling disciplines, the Rémoise retained her title of world champion in short track mountain biking, before winning in cross-country mountain biking, the 14th and 15th world titles of the insatiable collector. Cursed at the Olympics (26th in London in 2012, forced to abandon in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, 10th in Tokyo in 2021), Pauline Ferrand Prévot (31 years old) will apply herself to chasing the only title that is missing his dizzying record. She who after 2024, could take on the challenge of getting back on the road to participate in the women’s Tour de France…

Read alsoWorld Cycling Championships: Frenchwoman Pauline Ferrand-Prévot crowned in cross-country mountain biking

Read also Mountain Bike Worlds: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot retains her short track cross-country title

Léon Marchand, the little prince

A formidable competitor with the face of an angel. The Toulouse man registered as the major swimmer at the Fukuoka Worlds, winning the 400m medley (depriving Michael Phelps of his last world record), the 200m butterfly and the 200m medley. To bring, at 21, his total to five world titles, the French swimming record (ahead of Camille Lacourt 4, Laure Manaudou 3 and Florent Manaudou 2…). Léon Marchand announces himself for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as the standard bearer of an ambitious French team.

Read also2024 Olympic Games: Bob Bowman will be with Léon Marchand and the French team in Paris

À lire aussiNation: Léon Marchand, Maxime Grousset… et des inquietudes

CLAW STRIKES

Communication of French judo

Certainly, judo today represents the flagship sport in the French Olympic universe. Brilliant in Tokyo with 8 podiums (two gold medals, three silver and three bronze), the discipline continues to shine – 7 medals won during the World Championships this year –, particularly among women where, in almost every category, two French women appear in the Top 10 in the world, if not in the Top 5. An abundance of goods which leaves one dreaming seven months before the Olympic Games on a sporting level. But which causes serious friction on the line between athletes and the federation. Like the recent psychodrama Julia Tolofua who saw her dreams of Paris 2024 disappear as soon as a first selection was announced in November, even though nothing pushed the Federation to decide so quickly between her and Romane Dicko . An anger expressed with emotion by the vice-world champion, who is not the only one to complain about the methods and the lack of consideration of their leaders.

Read alsoJudo: “My dream was shattered in one fell swoop”, the bitterness of Julia Tolofua excluded from the 2024 Olympics

Read also The closer the Paris 2024 Olympics approach, the more French judo becomes tense

French athletics in great suffering

Ludvy Vaillant, Gilles Biron, David Sombé and Téo Andant. Here are the names of the four French 400m relay runners who won the silver medal at the World Championships organized in 2023 in Budapest. Podium which happens to be… the only one in France in this competition. Usual savior of the nation during the last editions, Kevin Mayer, after a 100m in 10”79 and a best jump of 7.25m long – performances far from his usual standards -, had to resolve to give up in decathlon and suddenly, the tree no longer hid the forest. Desert. Less than a year before the Games in Paris, the situation is catastrophic. While athletics, the king sport of the Olympics, distributes medals in abundance, France can hardly dream of more than three or four podiums, if all the stars align as they should. The result of a guilty slumber for around fifteen years, as if some, lulled by the unexpected success of the Rio Games in 2016 (6 medals), had forgotten the demands that high-level sport requires.

The collapse of the French track cycling team

In 2022, a full-scale rehearsal for the Olympic Games, the French team made the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome a festive theater (7 medals, including 3 titles). A year later, in Glasgow, the Blues did not win a single title: 5 medals, 2 silver with Valentine Fortin (Elimination) and Benjamin Thomas (Omnium) and 3 bronze with the men’s team sprint, the women’s team pursuit and the American women’s to tumble in the medal table (12th). Worrying. At home, on its home track, the French team will be keen to bounce back.

2023-12-31 06:49:23
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