From Rio, in 2016, the French team of swimming came back with three charms and no Olympic titles – a first since the Olympic Games of Sydney in 2000. After an exceptional decade between 2004 and 2012, this Olympiad had left a taste of bitterness and gave an air of shipwreck to a discipline long dominated by the French.
Since then, the workforce has been renewed, with young swimmers, such as Léon Marchand, Mewen Tomac, who carry blue hopes when elders, such as Florent Manaudou, Charlotte Bonnet or even Mélanie Hénie, are still there to lead the boat. In Tokyo, the French delegation will try to make up for the disappointment of 2016.
What are the chances of the tricolor clan medal?
The great luck Marc-Antoine Ollivier in open water
It will not only be race swimming to allow the French team to glean medals, but also diving, open water, water polo and synchronized swimming.
It is in open water that the Blues can hope the most with, in particular, Marc-Antoine Ollivier on the 10 kilometers. The swimmer won two silver medals in the 5 and 10 km at the European Championships in Budapest in May, and was one of the “survivors” of the Rio Games: he won bronze there.
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The captains Marie Wattel, Charlotte Bonnet and Mélanie Hènes
As for the pools, the French delegation will be well represented, especially by the girls. One of the most to watch swimmers will be Marie Wattel, who stood out at the last European Championships in Budapest: bronze medalist with the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay, she won the 100-meter butterfly the next day. The sprinter hit the nail on the head with a third medal, silver in the 100m freestyle.
In Tokyo, she will be fielded in the 50 and 100 freestyle, as well as the 100 butterfly, and can aim for medals on both 100 meters.
It will also be necessary to count on Charlotte Bonnet, qualified for the 100 and 200 m freestyle, not insignificant competitor on these distances. If she lost her European title this year in Budapest, finishing 4th, the Niçoise had achieved very high level European championships in 2018 (three gold medals in the 200 freestyle, the 4×100 freestyle women and the 4×100 mixed freestyle). She will want to erase the Hungarian disillusionment.
Cruel fourth place in the 200m freestyle for Charlotte Bonnet ???? which cedes its title to the Czech Barbora Seemanova (1’56 “27). Federica Pellegrini and Freya Andreson touched in front of the Frenchwoman # Budapest2021 #Swimming
? Follow the live: https://t.co/AnliHCR5QH pic.twitter.com/TUQsNGIUBb
– France tv sport (@francetvsport) May 20, 2021
Mélanie Hènes will only swim the 50m freestyle. She was silver medalist at the European Championships this season over the distance, ten after her last European podium, and can also achieve a good performance.
The women’s 4×100 freestyle relay
Third at the European Championships two months ago, the quartet composed of Charlotte Bonnet, Marie Wattel, Assia Touati and Anouchka Martin, can also aim for a podium.
The men’s 4×100 freestyle relays, the men’s and women’s 4×200 freestyle relays, as well as the 4×100 medley will also be present in Tokyo.
The younger generation
Without a strong leader, French swimming will be able to count on its young generation to improve its record. The prodigy Léon Marchand, author of an incredible performance during the French championships in Chartres in June on the 400 medley (he signed the 13th best world performance of all time), is one of the medalists. He will also be aligned with the 200 medley.
The two backstrokes Yohan Ndoye Brouard and Mewen Tomac will be aligned on the 100 and 200 m backstroke. The first, third at the European Championships in the 100m, can aim for a podium, and why not, take his young teammate with him.
???? The bronze medal over 100m backstroke for Yohann Ndoye Brouard ?? at the European swimming championships in Budapest ???? in this early afternoon finals. Mewen Tomac cracked at the end of the race (5th) # Budapest2021 #Swimming
? Follow the live: https://t.co/AnliHCR5QH pic.twitter.com/K8DWze6gJN
– France tv sport (@francetvsport) May 20, 2021
The question about the form of Mehdy Metella
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Mehdy Metella during the 4x100m medley relay at the European Championships in Budapest on May 23, 2021 © ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP
It is difficult to know in what form the Guyanese will be. Shoulder surgery in January 2020, Mehdy Metella is slowly recovering and begins to regain sensations. But his season was complicated, and made up of very highs as well as very lows: at the European Championships, he did not pass the 100m butterfly series, only achieving 19th fastest time.
A few weeks later, during the French championships in Chartres, he swam in 51”18 in the 100m butterfly heats, his best time since his French record (50”85) set in Rennes in 2019. He then won the title in 50”87, two hundredths off his record.
He will swim the 100m butterfly and face the unbeatable American Caeleb Dressel, world record holder in the distance.
The unknown Manaudou
Last unknown, the winning return or not of Florent Manaudou. The French sprinter, who had put his career on hiatus for two years and tried handball, also has high hopes. Olympic champion over the distance in 2012, vice-champion in 2016, Laure’s little brother wants to regain the podiums. But does he have the means, almost ten years after his last coronation? Expected for his first big competition at the European Championships in May, Florent Manaudou only signed the 5th fastest time in the 50-meter freestyle final.
A few weeks later, he suffered his first defeat against a Frenchman since 2012 in the 50m freestyle at the French championships, against young Maxime Grousset: 21”74, personal best for the youngest, against 21”84 for Manaudou.
Above all, over this distance, he will face the tornado Caeleb Dressel, who sweeps everything in his path: with thirteen gold medals at the 2017 and 2019 world championships, and not yet an individual Olympic title, the young prodigy American is likely to shower the hopes of Florent Manaudou.
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