In 2016, a shower of medals celebrated the triumph of French boxers in Rio: six Olympic charms, including two in gold for the couple Tony Yoka and Estelle Mossely. These unexpected results – after the zero point in London, in 2012 – had highlighted French boxing, unaccustomed to such a party.
In Tokyo, during the pugilistic tournament which began Saturday July 24 and which ends Sunday August 8, the celebrations should be more modest. Already because there are only five French boxers in Japan – more than four after the elimination in the first round of the first Frenchman Samuel Kistohurry (- 57 kg) – and also because the France team is no longer the same as in 2016 (there were ten in Brazil). At 26, Sofiane Oumiah is the last man in Rio. The 2016 Olympic runner-up, who has meanwhile become world champion, will be the Frenchman’s main chance for a gold medal.
Head coach of the Blues five years ago, still in office, John Dovi distinguishes the two editions. “I don’t think of Rio at all, he assures. But it’s okay for people to compare. As soon as we got back from Brazil, they told us: “You have six medals, we will have to do seven next time.” ” A requirement now impossible to meet given the number of French entries, even if Billal Bennama (- 52 kg) or Maïva Hamadouche (- 60 kg), the only qualified boxer, will have a card to play.
New president of the French Boxing Federation (FFBoxe), elected in March, Dominique Nato recalls the impact of Covid-19 on the qualification process. “In Rio, there were three qualifying tournaments. This year there was only one. Three or four of our boxers would have been able to “scratch” their place., explains the ex-coach of Brahim Asloum during the 2000 Olympics. But the five present practically all have a chance to win a medal… ”
“The federation did not know how to exploit the medals in Rio”
If French boxing should not leave Tokyo fanny, it will struggle to generate as much enthusiasm as its previous collective – self-dubbed “Team Solid”. “After Rio, the halls were full. Everyone was talking about our achievement, remembers Sofiane Oumiah, who takes care of a club in Toulouse. The federation knew how to use this enthusiasm at the beginning but after that it was complicated, especially with the Covid. Boxing has always been a particular sport in France. When we see that we speak badly of a champion like Tony Yoka… ”
Returning triumphant from its transatlantic crossing, French boxing was, in 2016, legitimate to imagine itself in a big way. Five years later, the situation is quite different, analyzes the retired boxer Sarah Ourahmoune, Olympic vice-champion in Rio. “The federation did not know how to use the medals in Rio, which is a shame because it was quite exceptional. There was no work done to have more licensees and prepare future generations of boxers, regrets the one who, at 39, has been vice-president of the FFBoxe since the election in March. We should have worked on communication. All the members of “Team Solid” were not at all asked to continue to pass on good messages around boxing. “
“Rio will have served to demonize our sport,” says coach John Dovi
For its president, Dominique Nato, former vice-president in the outgoing mandate, the results are necessarily less gloomy. “Rio was not a missed opportunity. It has showcased our sport to the general public and developed feminization, for example, he advances. I sincerely believe that boxers have been as good in the ring as they are outside the ring. Private clubs have benefited from this, especially with a different audience, white collar workers. It is not all bad. “
John Dovi, who is preparing to lead the Blues for the last time in Tokyo, recognizes that the federation “Did not know or could not” transform Rio into a positive dynamic. But for the man on the ground, it was perhaps first necessary to get boxing out of its compartmentalization: “Rio will have served to demonize our sport. It must be said that this was the necessary process so that people were less afraid of it and put their children in a ring., wants to believe the coach. All that we will do now that is good will allow French boxing to show that Rio was not an exceptional case. “
Numerous worksites
A newcomer to responsibilities, Sarah Ourahmoune embodies a welcome renewal within federal bodies – which she considers “Still incomplete” (half of the steering committee was already part of the previous one). “We are going to rely on the experience of the former, but the challenge is to convince them that things must be modernized, militates the former champion. I accepted to join this team because I felt in the president’s speech that he was aware of this and that he wants it. ”
A voluntarism confirmed by Dominique Nato: “I am not of her generation, I was also in the previous team but I understand Sarah’s reflection and I share it: this federation must move forward and modernize. “
There are many projects: the pursuit of feminization, that of professionalization, the improvement of training or even the digitization project. The latter is symptomatic of a certain immobility, according to Sarah Ourahmoune: “Everything is done on paper, by hand, at the end of a fight. When I started at 14, it was like that. It hasn’t budged. And around the rings, they are always the same. “
Especially since the 2024 Olympics make French sports federations feverish. “We are also investing in the future: the Games in Paris are once every hundred years. We must not miss them ”, assumes President Nato. Eight years after Rio and whatever happens in Tokyo, boxing would especially not want to miss another Olympic carnival in Paris.
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