While the opening ceremony has just ended at the Olympic stadium in Tokyo, with all the delegations present at these 32nd Summer Games of the modern era, that of France is already hard at work.
While waiting, at best, to see them climb to the top step of the podium and proudly sing the Marseillaise, here are some figures on this delegation, which will aim for a certain number of medals.
This year, 378 of our athletes are defending their chances in the Land of the Rising Sun, for a total of 11,090 athletes. There are 212 men and 166 women, representing a total of 31 federations. Among them, surfing, rock climbing, 3X3 basketball, and karate make their first appearance, before many chances of winning a coveted metal. Note that we have to go back to 2004, in Athens, to find traces of a first French medal on the first Saturday.
In Rio five years ago, France had brought back 42 medals (10 in gold, 18 in silver, 14 in bronze).
The desired objective is to do at least as well, and of course if possible better, which would make it possible to reach the total of 43 achieved in Beijing in 2008, a post-war record.
Several champions, such as Teddy Riner, Charline Picon (windsurfing), men's team swordsmen, and riders (Pénélope Leprévost in show jumping and those in the eventing) will try to keep their Olympic title.
🇫🇷 France makes its debut at # Tokyo2020!
Live the opening ceremony of the #JeuxOlympiques on @ France2tv
▶ DIRECT https://t.co/lS4pBZ379M pic.twitter.com/9BtrhOVnGF
- Info France 2 (@ infofrance2) July 23, 2021
OTHER FIGURES FROM THE FRENCH DELEGATION
The tallest athlete:
Moustapha Fall (basketball), 2m18.
The smallest:
Carolann Héduit (artistic gymnastics), 1m45.
The heaviest:
Teddy Riner (judo), 139 kg.
The lightest:
Melanie de Jesus Dos Santos (artistic gymnastics), 38 kg.
The oldest
: Isabelle Pinto (horse riding, dressage), 49 years old.
The youngest
: Madeleine Larcheron (skateboard), 15 years old.
The most experienced:
Mélina Robert-Michon (athletics, discus) and Nicolas Touzaint (horse riding, eventing), 6th participation.
The most successful at the Olympics:
Teddy Riner and handball players Michaël Guigou, Luc Abalo, and Nikola Karabatic, 2 gold medals.
The most medalists:
Teddy Riner (2 gold medals, 1 bronze medal) and handball players Michaël Guigou, Luc Abalo, and Nikola Karabatic (2 gold medals, 1 silver medal).
The one who qualified the earliest:
Hassan Chahdi (athletics, marathon), February 19, 2019.
Those who qualified later
: Maxime Grousset (swimming, 50m freestyle), Medhy Metella (100m butterfly), Léon Marchand (200m medley), Marie Wattel (50m Women), and the Women's 7-a-side rugby team, June 20, 2021.
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