The French handball players qualified for their second Olympic final in a row and secured a 31st medal for France by winning against Sweden (29-27) on Friday at the Yoyogi stadium.
Les Bleues will compete for the gold medal against the big favorites Norway or the Russians, opposed in the other semi-final on Friday (9 p.m. in Tokyo, 2 p.m. in Paris).
READ ALSO. The France team offers itself to Sweden and goes to the final: relive the semi-final of Les Bleues
Five years later, they are back in the final of the Games. The sentence is enough to draw an exploit, the circumstances make it even more precise.
Fate hit the players of Olivier Krumbholz in the spring. The Olympic vice-champions lost to injury their captain Siraba Dembélé, their shooter Orlane Kanor and right-back Aïssatou Kouyaté. A series all the more unfair because without the postponement of one year of the Games, they would undoubtedly have walked the floor of the Yoyogi stadium.
Their difficult start to the tournament, four first matches concluded with a single victory and a feeling of excitement could have made people believe that it was too much to conquer in Japan the only title missing from their record, Olympic gold.
Three matches later and as many victories against the Brazilians, the Dutch world champions and therefore the Swedes, they are only one step away from the title.
29 27
IT’S FAIIIIIT! Les Bleues are in the final of the Olympic Games #BlueberryProud #Tokyo2020 #Handball pic.twitter.com/aolCdyPgr4
– French Handball teams (@FRAHandball) August 6, 2021
“I am very moved to see how far we have come since the beginning, we believed in it. There is this turning point against Brazil where we saw the state of mind of this team. We are where we wanted to be “, reacted on France 2 Allison Pineau, who was already in the final lost to the Russians in Rio.
A collective force emerges from these Blue champions of the world (2017) and of Europe (2018).
After Amandine Leynaud, almost impervious against the Netherlands (22 saves, 51%), it was Cléopâtre Darleux who took over on Friday.
Entering after the break, the second goalkeeper signed 7 saves (35%) including a decisive double save in the 54th minute to allow hers to maintain a lead of two goals (26-24).
Undoubtedly the turning point of this hooked meeting, more bitter than imagined two days earlier when the players of Olivier Krumbholz had crushed the Dutch (32-22) in one of these difficult matches to repeat where everything aligns.
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