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Homegrown hopes for Paris: The French stars carrying the weight of a nation
By Rob Harris
Its build-up has been mired in political turmoil, a contaminated river and – yet again – complaints about flimsy cardboard beds.
Paris 2024, due to kick off on July 26, will be a huge logistical challenge. Around 10,500 athletes and 15 million tourists are expected in the French capital. The outdoor opening ceremony, which will be attended by some 100,000 spectators packed along the banks of the Seine River, is every security agency’s nightmare.
Paris Olympics organisers mounted the rings on the Eiffel Tower. The structure of five rings, made entirely of recycled French steel, will be displayed on the south side of the 135-year-old historic landmark in central Paris, overlooking the Seine River.Credit: AP
And let’s not forget the quest to be carbon-neutral. Paris officials ordered the athletes’ living quarters to be without air conditioning units, but countries including the US, Britain, Australia, Italy, Canada and Denmark intend to bring their own units for athletes in case of heat waves.
With the French public having grown wary of the ballooning costs of the event, officials are desperately clinging to forecasts the home nation can almost triple its gold medal total from the 10 won at Tokyo, while boosting the mood of the nation by increasing its overall medal haul.
The country’s best two performances came when it hosted the Olympics in 1900 and 1924, finishing first and third, respectively. France will now be hoping to make home advantage count again as it looks to close the gap on the likes of the United States, China and Great Britain.
This time the home nation is predicted to win 28 gold medals, 19 silver and eight bronze, having not finished inside the top five since London 1948 when it ranked third. Here are some of its brightest hopes:
Léon Marchand, 22, swimming
Léon Marchand arrived on the world stage when he smashed Michael Phelps’ last remaining world record – the men’s 400-metre individual medley – at the world championships last year in the Japanese city of Fukuoka. Marchand clocked 4:02.50 mins – more than a second faster than Phelps’ record, which had stood since the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The 22-year-old, from Toulouse, will carry the hopes of a nation at the pool and be one of the faces of the Games. He had his first taste of the Olympic stage the years ago in Tokyo as a 19-year-old, finishing in sixth place finish in the 400m medley. He then went on to become world champion in the 200m and 400m at Budapest, with a European record in the longer distance.
Léon Marchand is already part of French swimming royalty.Credit: AP
He basically fell into the pool from the cradle – his father Xavier was a finalist at the Atlanta (1996) and Sydney (2000) Olympic Games in the 200m medley. His mother, Céline Bonnet, a medley and backstroke specialist, swam at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Marchand is also coached by Bob Bowman, the former mentor of the 23-time Olympic gold medal-winning Phelps. The pair combined to dominate the US college scene with 10 titles last year for the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Sara Balzer, 29, fencing
French fencer Sara Balzer.Credit: Getty Images
France is the second-most successful nation in Olympic fencing and its fencers, traditionally the country’s biggest source of medals, will need to play their part if the hosts are to meet those expectations.
Their cause might be helped by the absence of Russian fencers, who topped the medal table in Tokyo but will be absent this year because of sanctions put in place after the invasion of Ukraine.
In Tokyo, Russians won both individual and team titles in women’s sabre and France’s Sara Balzer – a silver medallist at the last Games – has a good chance of emulating that feat in Paris with teammates Manon Apithy-Brunet and Cecilia Berder.
The left-handed sabre fencer, whose mother is Algerian, is an outspoken advocate for animal rights and the environment.
Pierre Guichot, manager of the French Olympic fencing team, says Balzer – who hails from Strasbourg – “deserves to be an Olympic champion”.
“She has all the assets to be one, but she will have to be strong on the big day, and not break down. Stress can either inhibit or transcend,” he said.
Coline Devillard, 23, gymnastics
Devillard became the first French woman since 2009 to win an individual medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships when she took third place on vault in Liverpool in October 2022.
Not selected for the Tokyo Games, she has not looked back since. In May, she defended her European vault title and remains the queen of Europe on vault. She dreams of winning gold on her home stage.
While the 23-year-old, from Saone-et-Loire, has established herself as a vault specialist, she has turned to former 110m hurdler Ladji Doucouré to improve her technique on the apparatus in a move that she says helps not only her physical but mental health.
Coline Devillard competing in the vault during last year’s Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp.Credit: Getty Images
In February, she was hosted at the Elysee Palace by President Emmanuel Macron, along with 13 French athletes as the hope of the games.
“Paris is the goal. It can only be good. It’s at home and everyone will be there,” she said at the time.
“My parents can come ... and that’s huge. We know the country, we know the city, we know the people, we’re right at home! We’ve got everything we need to make it huge.”
Nikola Karabatic, 40, handball
Nikola Karabatic in action for France against Iceland in Beijing 2008.Credit: Fairfax Photographic
In the world of handball they don’t come much better than Karabatic, who is widely regarded as one of the sport’s greatest stars.
The history-making legend is a three-time Olympic champion (at Beijing, London and Tokyo), four-time world champion, three-time European champion and three-time Champions League winner.
French hearts will be set on their highly popular men’s and women’s handball teams winning Olympic gold together on home soil this year, repeating their rare double triumph in Tokyo.
A handball sweep had only previously been achieved by two now-defunct countries – Yugoslavia at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and the Soviet Union in the 1976 Montreal Games.
Karabatic, who turned 40 in April, retired this past domestic season, having suffered from various injuries in recent years, including a torn ACL in his right knee and phlebitis in the final stages of last season.
Voted world player of the year in 2007, 2014 and 2016, he has also clinched 21 national titles with his clubs Montpellier, PSG, Kiel and Barcelona. Winning a fourth Olympic gold at this sixth games – this one on home soil – would be the fitting ending to a remarkable career.
“Life sometimes gives us beautiful gifts,” he said ahead of the games. “Having the Olympics in Paris is very, very exciting.”
Sasha Zhoya, 22, athletics
Three-time French champion Sasha Zhoya is shaping as the literal poster boy of the home nation’s hopes at the track.
Considered one of the hottest French track and field athletes of the moment, the Australian-born Zhoya signed as an ambassador last month with French fashion house Dior and will feature in promotional imagery.
“For me athletes are artists,” Zhoya wrote on Instagram. “I’m fascinated by the creative process, starting with an idea, a movement or a feeling and trying to achieve excellence, whether in the creation of a garment or a performance.”
But he hasn’t taken his eye off the ball, with a perfect build-up so far. Last week he recorded a personal best time of 13.15 secs in the 110 metres hurdles to win at the Diamond League event on home soil.
Zhoya was born in Perth to a French mother and a Zimbabwean father, meaning he has a triple nationality. His mum, Catherine, was a former international skier and father, Yonah, a musician, with both sports and performing arts an instrumental part of the hurdler’s childhood.
Sprint sensation Sasha Zhoya was born in Australia.Credit: Getty Images
He chose France party because of the chance to compete in a home Olympic Games. After switching his allegiance in 2021, he made his mark as a force to be reckoned at the world under-20 championships in Nairobi.
He produced one of the most outstanding junior performances in history, shattering his world junior record in the 110m hurdles of 12.93 with a stunning 12.72.
Clarisse Agbegnenou, 30, judo
Clarisse Agbegnenou vowed after winning silver at Rio 2016 that only gold would do at Tokyo.
Her goal was achieved when she toppled Slovenia’s Tina Trstenjak, who had beaten her in 2016 in the -63kg class.
Three years after her triumph in Tokyo and two years after giving birth to her daughter, Athéna, the judoka is an overwhelming favourite in her category, which she has dominated for over a decade.
Clarisse Agbegnenou (left) in action at Tokyo 2021.Credit: Getty Images
Agbegnenou resumed training in early 2023 with the ambition of shining in front of her home crowd at Paris 2024.
She has been outspoken about the challenges as a new mum, sharing anecdotes about how in training she would stop for quick feeds when Athéna needed milk, nestling her hungry baby in the folds of her kimono, while other athletes in the judo hall carried on with their bouts.
For her international comeback at the 2023 World Judo Championships last May, she clinched her sixth world title, winning all her matches by ippon – the highest score achievable in judo.
“I couldn’t have dreamed of anything better. I knew the road was going to be very, very hard. Almost eleven months after giving birth, I’m back,” Agbegnenou told La Chaîne L’Équipe. “I know there are still things to work on for the Paris 2024 Olympics, but in the meantime, I’m bringing home my sixth world title. I can only be proud, proud of my daughter, proud of the people around me.”
Oriane Bertone, 19, climbing
Oriane Bertone during sport climbing’s women’s boulder final at the European Championships in 2022.Credit: Getty Images
Oriane Bertone learned her climbing skills far away from Europe, growing up on the tiny rocky remote island in the Indian Ocean - Reunion, a 12-hour flight from mainland France.
The French-governed island is tucked between Mauritius and Madagascar and it contains breathtaking beaches, barren landscapes and an active volcano.
Bertone has been marked for climbing greatness ever since she became the youngest person ever to complete a V14 (8B+) boulder problem in 2018 at the age of just 12.
In 2022, she claimed a bronze medal at the European Championships in Munich. Last June, she clinched her first boulder World Cup victory in Prague, defeating Olympic champion Janja Garnbret of Slovenia.
In Paris, there will be two sport climbing events per gender: Speed Climbing (SC) and Boulder and Lead combined (B&L). The latter is where Bertone aims to make her mark.
“It is good because I love lead and bouldering. The fact that they are together is the best,” she said ahead of the Games. “I’m excited to see how it’s going to be at the Olympics, who’s going to be there ... the Olympic Games in France and Paris are going to be amazing.”
Alexis, 20, and Félix Lebrun, 17, table tennis
The French brothers are ready to conquer the table tennis world at their home games, having both made their mark the sport over the past few years in a stunning rise up the ranks.
Having sat outside world top 1000 in November 2021, the Montpellier natives from the south of France are both well entrenched within the sport’s top players.
A formidable doubles’ combination, they are now also budding rivals in the singles, having faced off against each other in the final of the French national championships in 2023 and 2024, as well as matching up in the quarter-finals of this year’s Europe Top 16 Cup in January.
Last year Alexis, the older of the two, beat China’s world No.1 Fan Zhendong before winning bronze at the European Games. But Felix, widely regarded as the latest phenomenon in the sport, won gold and sits at No.5 in the world rankings, the highest-ranked player not to come from traditional powerhouses People’s Republic of China.
“(If they’re) in the final, I’m obviously happy because they’ll have reached as far as they could before meeting, but we don’t enjoy it as much,” the pair’s mother Dominique Legoût-Lebrun told olympics.com. “We hope for good table tennis, a show, we appreciate each point, and wish that the best wins.”
Victor Wembanyama, 20, basketball
Victor Wembanyama has already put the NBA on notice.Credit: AP
The 224-centimetre giant with out-of-this-world ability already dominated defensively for the San Antonio Spurs in his debut NBA season.
He was earmarked as a superstar well ahead of being selected with the first pick in the 2023 draft, and has already won all-defensive first team honours after a campaign in which he won the rookie of the year crown and was the NBA’s blocks leader.
The generational talent out of Le Chesnay in the western suburbs of Paris will be front and centre as France – also featuring other NBA stars such as Rudy Gobert, Nic Batum, Bilal Coulibaly and Evan Fournier – take on the might of Team USA. As of early July, France is on the third line of betting – equal with Serbia – for the men’s gold medal, still well behind the Americans.
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