Tokyo Olympics: with just one medal, should we worry about French swimming?

A bit like the track saved cycling from the complete rout in Tokyo (zero points for the road, the stopwatch, the mountain bike and the BMX), the swimming counted on open water to flatter its Japanese record.

Basically, doubling the number of medals.

Going from one (Florent Manaudou over 50 m NL) to two, with a podium expected from Marc-Antoine Olivier over the 10 km.

For five years and his bronze in Rio, the Northerner had only gold in his mouth.

The disillusionment is enormous… “For me, it's shameful,” he even summed up after his sad sixth place in Obaida Bay.

The Blues have three years to get their heads out of the water.

Manaudou is still breathing

His sister Laure baptized him "legend". Florent Manaudou, 30, did not win the 50m NL but it's just like. Second behind the untouchable Caeleb Dressel, the former handball player has made a resounding return to the top after months of doubts. Well in his personal and aquatic life, the sprinter of CN Marseille has every intention of pushing the lengths to Paris. And that's good. The talent and experience of Manaudou, captain with Mélanie Hènes in Tokyo, are beneficial in and out of the pool. The France of the basins can in any case say a big thank you to the 2012 Olympic champion. Without him, it would have gone back twenty-five years, with the empty space of the Atlanta Olympics. Not something to be happy about, however. We weren't expecting miracles from a crossroads selection, but definitely better.You have to go back to the year 2000 - and the silver in the 200m backstroke in Sydney by Roxana Maracinean - to find traces of such a modest harvest.

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A generation at the end of its rope

Injuries, doubts, bad shape, attitude… The executives of the blue house did not stay in the nails. Like Charlotte Bonnet, 26, who just ended months of suffering. “It had become a routine, concedes the Niçoise, leaving in the semi-final of the 200 m NL, who will take a break to ask the right questions. I was started throughout the season and it was getting harder and harder. I hope it won't be my last Games, that I will go to Paris so as not to end up there. I have to put things back on track and find myself in order to know what I want to do. I would just like to get back to my level of three or four years ago, but it seems so far away today… ”Operated on his left shoulder a year and a half ago, Mehdy Metella, 29, would not have not due to participate in the Games in 2020.The Marseillais came and stopped in the semi-final of the 100m butterfly after having weighed down the 4 x 100m relay. 2018 European Champion in the 400m medley, Fantine Lesaffre, 26, has not gone beyond the heats ...

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A breath of fresh air

Six medals in Athens in 2004, as many in Beijing in 2008, seven in London (and four titles) in 2012… With two exceptional generations, France has eaten its white bread for ten years or so. Aware that the harder would be the fall in front of the lack of relief. Today, there are a few of them to (well) lay the groundwork for the 2024 Games. Marie Wattel (24 years old, 6th in the 100m butterfly), Maxime Grousset (22 years old, 4th in the 100m NL) or Léon Marchand ( 19 years old, 6th in the 400m medley), in full progress in recent months, have fulfilled their contract. The observation is much more measured in open water where Olivier (who is only 25 years old) took a good slap and where the behavior of David Aubry (24 years old), short of preparation, greatly exasperated the staff. At the start of the school year, Jacco Verhaeren,former coach of Pieter van den Hoogenband (three-time Olympic champion), will officially take up his duties as director of the French running and open water teams. The Dutchman will have his work cut out for him ...

💥 Caeleb Dressel, new Olympic champion in the 100m freestyle!

The American torpedo beats the Olympic record in 47.02, Maxime Grousset finishes in a promising 4th place.

Vibrate in front of the #Olympic Games of # Tokyo2020 on Eurosport https://t.co/uggwqWOjy9 pic.twitter.com/3wSbWdt9ZF

- Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) July 29, 2021