Patrick Chila and Jean-Philippe Gatien are the last French people to have won an Olympic medal in table tennis, it was 24 years ago, in Sydney, in men's doubles (an event which no longer exists).
It was the year 2000 and the Lebrun brothers were not yet born.
The eldest is Alexis, 20 years old, 22nd in the world and double French champion in 2023 facing a certain… Félix, his little brother, 17 years old, 6th in the world and first non-Chinese in the world rankings.
The two brothers are part of the French chances of an Olympic medal this summer in Paris.
“It’s definitely the dream,” assures Félix with stars in his eyes.
Friday February 2, Alexis and Félix play in the Alain-Achille room, with their team, at the Alliance Nîmes-Montpellier in Pro A, the first French division in table tennis.
It was in this room that they started ping-pong at the ages of 4 and 3 respectively.
" It's my house.
I spend more time here than anywhere in my life, says Félix.
For me it’s the venue that matters the most, I’m super happy to play there.”
“It’s amazing to play here, in front of so many people.
It’s true that we have fun with the team, with the public,” adds Alexis.
Ping-pong for the Lebruns is a family affair.
Their father Stéphane was French champion.
Their uncle Christophe Legoût was considered one of the best French table tennis players, being ranked 14th in the world at his peak.
Also read “It’s on the same level as Wembanyama and Alcaraz”: the Lebrun brothers, gems of French table tennis
The Lebrun brothers have become the phenomena of French and global ping-pong.
Wherever they go, they move crowds.
And this evening they have a full house.
“They are not often in Montpellier, so it was an opportunity to come and see them,” explains Cécile accompanied by her son Noham, a fan of Ping-Pong and Félix Lebrun.
“We drove 3 hours to come see them,” explains Clara.
I follow all their matches on the Internet, now I wanted to see them in real life.”
This evening the two nuggets are mishandled by the table tennis players of Jura Morez, but the younger of the two brothers managed to turn around his poorly started match against Xiang Peng, winning his team.
“The atmosphere was starting to heat up when I came back up.
I think on the outside he would have gained confidence and kept rolling.
There I don't have the right to give up being here in Montpellier with the whole public, Félix savors at the end of the meeting.
Afterwards it was the cauldron, it was hard for him.
It’s the little extra that makes matches change.”
A mental victory when you're not at your best physically, that's the mark of the great!
“He never died, everyone is starting to say that he is really strong in his head and he proves it every time.
I don’t know where he’s going to get all this but it’s strong,” assures his mother Dominique, who like her sons, has her sights set on the Paris Olympic Games.