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The hour of revenge had come.
As in the final of the Rio Games five years ago, the French men's foil team faced Russia, under a neutral banner in Tokyo.
At the time, Aleksey Cheremisinov and others had won gold (41-45).
From this period, Enzo Lefort and Erwann Le Péchoux remained on the hexagonal side, as well as the Russian Timur Safin.
For the Blues, the stake was clear: finally to win the cup, they the vice-world champions in 2019, to allow the team foil to win its first Olympic title since Sydney in 2000. A mission accomplished with style this Sunday .
Lefort royal
This final ideally started with a first stint for Erwann Le Pechoux, as a substitute at the start of the day, very dynamic against Anton Borodachev (5-3). Julien Mertine did the same against the brother of the Russian, Kirill, and the Blues stood out (10-5). The gap continued to grow (15-8) under the impetus of a revenge Lefort also compared to his elimination in the quarter-finals of the individual, he who aimed at least for the podium. However, this lone French rider stopped on the 4th stint, during which Anton Borodachev passed three delicate minutes to Mertine (18-15). To avoid doubts, France could count on the experience of Le Péchoux, 39, who was living in Tokyo for his 5th Games. For two minutes, he extinguished Safin with a 3-0,even if the Russian reacted to maintain the gap at three units (21-18). The turning point of the final then occurred in the 6th stint, that of a Lefort royal against Kirill Borodachev, a little too tender (28-21). Behind, France unfolded (45-28), direction a first Olympic gold for its three master foilists.
Before this final, the foil players had to extricate themselves from a complicated semi-final against the Japanese. “
These are guys who will gamble their lives because there is an Olympic final at stake, at home what is more. They seem to have mastered the pressure well, it galvanizes them more than anything else so it's up to us to be strong so as not to let ourselves be trodden on.
“, Lefort warned after the quarter-final won easily against Egypt (45-34). In fact, the game was undecided until the 7th stint, the two camps being held at one to two touches maximum. But Mertine, then inflicting a 5-0 to his opponent, allowed the Blues to take off (35-28). Lefort continued (5-4, 40-32), then Le Pechoux, battered yet by the Japanese Matsuyama (5-10), allowed the Blues to utter a huge cry of relief. Before roaring with happiness a few hours later.
