French fencing has made its contribution to the night fiasco of the France team, and with a very pretty stone: the scalp of its men's epee team, flagship of the Blues in these Tokyo Olympics. Olympic champions without stopping since the Athens Games in 2004, present on the podium since Atlanta eight years earlier, the Blues badly missed their subject on Friday by being eliminated from the start. A fiasco caused by Japan, never medalist at the Games and entered quarterback in favor of a play-off won against the United States earlier in the morning.
Pushed by a noisy cohort in the stands, the Japanese never let go of the France team's pass, in the lead but never really detached the whole match.
Until the final stint for Yannick Borel, theoretical leader of this team.
Under pressure, the Guadeloupe squandered the two keys in advance to be beaten on the wire by Koki Kano.
45-44, done goodbye.
🤺🇫🇷 What a disappointment!
The French men's épée team sees its dream of a medal fly away after a short defeat against Japan.
A first setback for the men's epee at the Olympic Games since Sydney in 2000 # Tokyo2020
Follow the Olympics live â–¶ https: //t.co/m1pzqe15FH pic.twitter.com/GRUCSAWqd8
- France tv sport (@francetvsport) July 30, 2021
"We should not arrive at this score," annoys the director of the French teams, Pierre Guichot. The match has to be folded first, but our shooters are making rookie mistakes. It seems to me that with the sword, when we lead, we do not attack outrageously, we let it come. We lost this match on tactics. The athletes will tell you that they felt like that, and they are right because they are the ones on the track. But it still seems like rookie mistakes to me. "
Here they are, who arrive sheepishly in the mixed zone.
Surprise Olympic champion in individual, Romain Cannone stretches while his comrades put words on the failure.
By his own admission, the Sunday hero was feeling a little tired this Friday when he arrived at Makuhari Mess, the soulless site of fencing events in Japan.
But all eyes are on Yannick Borel, the man who arrived in Japan with the firm intention of gleaning individual gold.
The 2019 world champion leaves with an entry elimination in the two events where he aligned.
"It's a huge disappointment"
“I take my responsibilities.
I have the impression of having given everything but I have not been good, loose the person concerned.
It is painful to come away from these Games without a medal, affected by the turn of events.
We feel below what is expected of us, we feel below everything.
"At his side, his sidekick Alexandre Bardenet opines:" It's a huge disappointment, the pill is difficult to swallow ".
It seems in any case remained through the throat of the president of the French fencing federation (FFE), Bruno Gares, who still plagues on the defeat in the quarter while attending the classification match of his men against Switzerland.
“There are personal errors of each fencer which are costly to France, he says.
Now, we will wait until the end of the Olympics to take stock and project ourselves.
"
Elected in September, the leader intends to draw up his roadmap for the 2024 Paris Olympics. With change in sight among the Blues, where the name of Hugues Obry, who led China to the semi-finals in this same event, returns with insistence to integrate the staff of the swordsmen. Among the athletes, we are already looking ahead, like Alexandre Bardenet and his desire to "get back to work to prepare for the next deadlines". "With the young people of Insep, we have enough to make three world-level teams, launches, as a warning, Bruno Gares. We will see what strategy we adopt to prepare for the future. That of a nation that fell from its pedestal on Friday.
