Relieved of the pressure of Olympic qualification since their world medal, the French women are fine-tuning their preparation for the Paris Games this summer with the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships, starting Thursday in Rimini, where they are expected even without Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos.
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Less than three months before the 2024 Olympics (July 26 – August 11), the European meeting is the opportunity “to test the new features put in place”explains to AFP the national coach in charge of the Bleues, Martine George, who intends to build on the good momentum instilled during the 2023 Worlds in October in Antwerp (Belgium) where the team bronze medal validated the Olympic sesame .
Les Bleues aim for the top 5
The French women, lined up without their star Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos, who remained in the United States where she has been training for 2 years in the same structure as the American icon Simone Biles, are aiming for the top 5 by team, their coach warned, but also two medals, notably with the double European champion on vault (2017, 2023), Coline Devillard, among the best in the world on this apparatus (bronze medalist at the 2022 Worlds).
“The result is important but what is essential is the preparation for the Games,” tempers Martine George, who wants in particular to take advantage of the passage to Rimini to increase the D mark (the one which takes into account the sequences in the code of points ) on the beam of Marine Boyer. » We’re going to take the risk,” slips the Australian coach.
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Marine Boyer, 23 years old like Coline Devillard, is one of the most experienced among the Blues, with her two European medals on the balance beam (silver in 2016 and bronze in 2018). She is preparing to participate in her third Olympic Games in Paris, even if we will have to wait until the end of the French Championships in Lyon (June 7-9) to definitively know the five lucky ones.
The Euro, “a preparatory stage for the Olympics”
In addition to Devillard and Boyer, Lorette Charpy (22 years old), bronze medalist at Euros-2022 on bars, Ming Gherardi van Eijken, just 16 years old, and Morgane Osyssek will be there.
“We really saw these European Championships as a preparatory stage for the Olympic Games. We have different objectives: the youngest who will come to seek international experience, the oldest who will come to prepare, sometimes reassure themselves and get started again in the direction of the Olympic Games.summarizes DTN Kévinn Rabaud to AFP.
In Rimini, the French women will have a hard time facing the Italians, who want to pull out all the stops at home, but also the British, reigning European team champions and Olympic and world medalists.
Note that these Euros are the last opportunity to qualify for the Olympics for gymnasts whose country has failed to obtain the Olympic quota and who will try to snatch the individual ticket.
Program for the Women’s European Championships (May 2-5 in Rimini):
Thursday: senior qualifications
Friday: junior qualifications
Saturday: apparatus competition
Sunday: Overall team competition
