His reception is crushed, and his smile matches the relief that his performance represents! This Friday, April 19 in Doha (Qatar), Samir Ait Said took third place in the rings event, his favorite apparatus, with a score of 14.633. Thanks to this result combined with those of previous Cup events of the world, he thus won a quota for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Thus, at 34 years old, the Frenchman should participate this summer in his third Olympic Games (subject to validation by the CNOSF), after those of Rio in 2016 where he was seriously injured on vault and those of Tokyo in 2021, where he finished just off the podium in his favorite event. In Japan, he was notably standard bearer for the French delegation alongside Clarisse Agbegnenou.
“It was so complicated,” he breathes. There were disappointments, some people didn’t believe in me but today I look at the glass half full. I think of my new coach, my partners, my club… I would never have made it alone. »
Not qualified by teams after their 19th place during the World Championships organized in Belgium last September, the French gymnasts had since launched into a complex and very tough qualification process. Only two Olympic tickets per event are awarded via the World Cup circuit.
In this game, his teammate Benjamin Osberger was beaten on the wire, he who could still hope for a qualification on the ground. He finished 6th in his final behind two direct competitors.
Cameron-Lie Bernard, who dreamed of qualifying on the parallel bars, did not make it through the qualifications. 9th, he missed the final for a place and was unable to defend his chances until the end.
Next week, the French men’s team will participate in the European Championships organized in Rimini (Italy). Benjamin Osberger will try to win the last ticket in play, this time in the all-around competition. For that, you will have to win!
