The question is rhetorical. “What better represents France than a team in a collective sport? Do the French not find themselves in this work? For them, collective intelligence is at work every day. It is doing together what you cannot do alone. ” For his part, Olivier Krumbholz leads a golden collective. The French women’s handball team won the first Olympic title in its history on Sunday 8 August. Nice revenge on the final lost, five years ago, against the same Russians.
This victory at the end of the Tokyo Games closes a sumptuous weekend for the national “sports co” teams. The day before, the men of handball obtained their third Olympic coronation, after 2008 and 2012. Those of volleyball, their very first. As for basketball, silver medal for the Blues after a defeat against the United States, and bronze for the Blues. Without forgetting, a week earlier, the second place for the 7-a-side players. Only the men’s football team deserted the Games in the first round.
Some will see it as a happy conjunction of athletes, if not planets. Others will attribute a symbolic dimension to these group successes. “It shows that to continue to survive, we have to help each other, sums up the handball player Béatrice Edwige, just off the podium. This is what makes the beauty of “sports co”. ” All the more so in the current health context, this permanent lock-up caused by the Covid-19. “We recreate a mini-family, that’s what keeps us going, all of this creates bonds of solidarity and sacrifice. “
“Participatory victories”
In “sports co”, we must also understand “girlfriends”, or at least “colleagues”. “Communication”, too. Words often heard after meetings to explain a group’s ability to hold on. “A bunch of friends”, for volleyball player Earvin Ngapeth. Even after the losses in the first round. “In the Olympic Village, every time we left the rooms, we went out with twelve guys. We discussed a lot, exchanged a lot, and it’s something that allowed us to continue to believe in it. “ Unlike the Rio 2016 Games, where a bad start had “A little scattered” the workforce, then a novice in the competition.
Among the basketball players, the youngest, Iliana Rupert and Marine Fauthoux, are 20 years old. The oldest, Sandrine Gruda, 34. Not a problem for their coach, Valérie Garnier, in office since 2013: “We have mixed three generations to prepare for the future. Nothing is better for young players than playing alongside Sandrine Gruda and Endy Miyem. This is the strength of French women’s basketball. “
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