1. Tennis: Nadal wins Roland-Garros and equal Roger Federer
The debate will remain eternal between lovers by Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal to find out which of the three is the greatest player in history but if we are simply by the facts, Rafael Nadal has taken a big step forward by equaling the exceptional record of twenty Grand Slam titles previously held by the Swiss. He achieved this feat by signing a… thirteenth crown at Roland Garros on the most demanding surface of the circuit, the clay. A 2020 edition with a small audience, unprecedented conditions with in particular a roof on the Central allowing to play at night and again maddening statistics with no set lost during the competition and now more than one hundred games won in Porte d’Auteuil career. At 34, the Spaniard even allowed himself to finish by inflicting a small spanking (6-0, 6-2, 7-5) on the world number 1, Novak Djokovic.
2. Cycling: Alaphilippe and Ferrand-Prévot world champions; Stunning Pogacar on the Tour
Cycling is one of the sports that has fared the best during this health crisis. Of course, we deplore the cancellation of Paris-Roubaix but major events were able to take place starting with the Tour de France, where the French did not have the same success as in 2019, none of them making it into the top 10, but where the suspense was maintained until the end, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) coming to blow the victory to his compatriot Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) in the time of the penultimate stage. A few days later, France still shone with the world title of Julian Alaphilippe, gleaned alone in Imola (Italy), twenty-three years after that of Laurent Brochard. Then it is Pauline Ferrand-Prévot which in turn won the world title in mountain biking in Austria in October.
3. Champions League: PSG in the men’s final; the quintuplet for the Lyonnaises
Two French clubs have invited themselves to the “Final 8” organized in August on a single site in Lisbon due to the covid-19 epidemic. After a great achievement against the English Manchester City (3-1) in the quarter-finals, the Lyonnais were crushed (3-0) by Bayern Munich in the semi-final. The Bavarians also ruined the dreams of Paris Saint-Germain : narrowly qualified in the quarterfinals against the Italians of Bergamo (2-1) then more brilliant against Lepizig (3-0) in the semi-final, Neymar and his comrades ended up giving in in the final (0-1).
On the women’s side, the Lyonnaises have achieved the feat of obtaining a fifth consecutive title at the expense of the German Wolfsburg (3-1), after beating PSG (1-0) in the semifinals.
4. Formula 1: Royal Hamilton, Gasly the Magnificent
In motorsport, the most striking image of 2020 will undoubtedly remain Romain Grosjean’s car on fire and the miraculous rescue of the French driver at the beginning of December at the Bahrain Grand Prix, but even if all is well over, we will prefer to remember from this Formula 1 season, Briton Lewis Hamilton’s records who with his seventh world title equals Michael Schumacher. With 95 victories now on his record, he also broke the record for the number of Grand Prix successes held by the German so far. We also highlight the success of Perre Gasly on his Alpha-Tauri in the Italian Grand Prix in September, the first by a French driver since Olivier Panis in 1997. Finally, in the rally category, special mention to Sébastien Ogier who with his co-driver Julien Ingrassia won a seventh world title on his Toyota.
5. Athletics is creative
To cope with the many cancellations, athletics has been able to reinvent itself to continue to exist. A pole vault competition was thus set up remotely, at the initiative of Renaud Lavillenie with the two other world stars, the Swede Mondo Duplantis and the American Sam Kendricks, each having a saltire in his garden. Kevin Mayer also took part in a challenge of this type against two other decathoners in three atypical events: to cross a maximum of bars at 4 m with the pole in ten minutes; Throw your weight as many times as possible beyond 12 m in 10 minutes and finally make as many back and forth trips as possible over 20 m for 10 minutes. Finally, the diamond league meetings in Oslo and Zurich offered distance duels over several events.
6. Sexual violence, the big show in skating and judo
It is with doping one of the aspects of sport that we would never like to see in sport again, but unfortunately sexual violence is a reality. Figure skating experienced a real earthquake at the beginning of the year following the revelations of many former champions including Sarah Abitbol. Many coaches have since been implicated and some sentenced to prison. The president of the French federation Didier Gailhaguet was forced to resign and was replaced by Nathalie Péchalat. In November it was judo which was in turn singled out for its terrible practices, coaches from Nord-Pas-de-Calais were involved in this new scandal. Investigations are underway. Will speech be freed up in other disciplines in 2021? We fear it as much as we hope.
7. From Maradona to Secrétin, the heavy black book of 2020
Each year brings its share of notable deaths among sports personalities but 2020 will remain a significant vintage, especially in the world of football. It is impossible not to mention the Argentinian Diego Armando Maradona, one of the greatest players in history, but legendary coaches like Michel Hidalgo and Robert Herbin have also left us. The region was not spared far from there with Gérard Houllier, the teacher launched in Noeux-les-Mines, who frequented the benches of Lens, PSG, the France team, Lyon and of course Liverpool; or Alex Dupont, who made the heyday of Dunkirk or Brest, without forgetting the former player of RC Lens, Papa Bouba-Diop. Also in the region, the most famous table tennis player, Jacques Secrétin has also passed away. Finally, rugby has lost one of its little princes in the person of Christophe Dominici.
8. Judo: 5th European coronation for Clarisse Agbegnenou and brilliant French
Less than a year before the Olympic Games in Tokyo, in the country of judo, France demonstrated in November at the European Championships in Prague (Czech Republic), that it remained one of the strongest nations by bringing back eight medals including five titles, all acquired in women, which gives her the first place in the medal table ahead of Russia and Georgia. Symbol of this winning French team, Clarisse Agbegnenou won, by winning in less than 53 kg, her fifth European crown at 28 years old. Like many of her female comrades (Boukli, Pinot, Gahié, Malonga, Dicko), she can now dream of an Olympic consecration.
9. Biathlon: Martin Fourcade, the ultimate title before retirement
The most medalist French sportsman in history at the Olympic Games, Martin Fourcade has decided this season to bow out after a busy career. But the biathlete did not tiptoe retirement, he added two world titles to his list including a thirteenth in individual to equal another legend of his sport, the Norwegian Ole-Einar Bjoerndalen. Winner of the small crystal globe in the sprint, he won his very last race, the 83rd of his career, in March in Kontiolahti (Finland), failing to second in the World Cup standings behind Norway’s Johannes Boe.
10. The handball players, finalists of Euro 2020
Norway finally deprived the tricolors of a second consecutive continental coronation but the tricolor handball players have proved, at the end of the year, their consistency at the highest level. If we except the 2019 Worlds, Rio Games finalists have followed a series of good performances in international competitions. In Denmark, the daughters of Olivier Krumbholz had an almost perfect run, conceding only one draw against Russia, before reaching the final. Abused, the Blue were still able to react and even pick up thanks in particular to their goalkeeper Cleopatra Darleux before giving in (20-22). Revenge expected this summer at the Tokyo Olympics.
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