It is a delirium between girlfriends, a war cry, but also the doctrine of a group at the top of the Olympics.
Sacred Sunday in Tokyo thanks to their victory over Russia (30-25) in the final of the Games, the French handball players once again made the thick walls of the Yoyogi stadium resonate.
With what has become their vocal signature, this war cry launched before the match and at each time-out against the players from the East: “Fèmé boutik, fèmé!”.
The meaning of the term? This is a West Indian Creole version of the phrase “close the shop”. A reference born during the competition, during one of the days spent at the Olympic Village in Tokyo. "I was watching a match with Méline (Editor's note: Nocandy), and I'm talking about a goalkeeper who closed the shop," says the Bleues center-half Grace Zaadi. Méline was surprised, because she thought that we only said that in the West Indies. I told him no, in France too, we used it too. "
# JO2021 🤾🏾♀️ "Fèmé boutik, fèmé!
»• 5️⃣ players from the #Antilles #Guyane and the whole team is learning Creole!
🔸 Hopefully the handball players 🇫🇷 will lock the shop against Russia to bring home #olympic gold!
💪🏾
🔜 The final at 3 p.m. (🇯🇵) pic.twitter.com/t0R1nAtyvy
- La1ere.fr (@ la1ere) August 8, 2021
The West Indian women of the group, such as Méline Nocandy or Coralie Lassource, as well as the Guyanese Béatrice Edwige popularize the Creole version.
Alignment of the planets, the French are looking for a new battle cry.
“We said
1, 2, 3, France
, but we found that something was missing,” says Alisson Pineau.
We said to ourselves that this expression sounded good, it gave the pep.
“Especially since in parallel, the Blue are struggling in their pool, with two defeats and a draw in their first four games.
"The first week, it was the sales in Tokyo"
“We believe a lot in defense to win our competitions, develops the back Estelle Nze Minko.
From Brazil (Editor's note: the last decisive group match for the qualification), we said to ourselves that we were going to close the shop.
"The first week, it was the sales in Tokyo," says Zaadi.
And then we closed the shop.
"
"3 words, 1 state of mind!"
💪🏾🇫🇷🔥 # teamspirit # BleuetFier # Tokyo2020 #JeuxOlympiques #handball @FRAHandball @EquipeFRA pic.twitter.com/oSQUMPTjrk
- Allison Pineau (@PineauAllison) August 7, 2021
The matches are linked, and the Blue continue this fairly codified ritual, where Grace Zaadi must shout "Fèmé boutik" and the rest of the team continue with a sonorous "Fèmé!"
".
In parallel, the players of Olivier Krumbholz apply this principle on the field, where they tear their qualification for the quarterfinals against the Brazilians before rolling the Dutch world champions in the quarterfinals.
The expression also becomes a rallying cry in everyday life, tossed at random from a locker room joke or simply for fun in the Olympic Village.
Against Russia, their goalkeeper Cleopatra Darleux "has done very well boutik", smiles Océane Sercien-Ugolin.
"It involves the defense and the goalkeeper, it is indicative of our state of mind," Zaadi slips.
The one who finally brought them to Olympic gold.
