Verstappen, Wembanyama, Biles, Djokovic… These athletes who marked the year 2023


Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: AFP
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8:35 p.m., December 29, 2023

Olympic Games, Euro football, African Cup of Nations, not to mention the essentials such as Roland-Garros, the VI Nations Tournament or even the Tour de France… The sports planet is preparing to vibrate in 2024. But before diving into next year’s very rich sporting calendar, Europe 1 invites you to relive several events of the year 2023 through ten athletes whose performances have made the news.

Victor Wembanyama, orange ball prodigy

If there was an official title of French sportsman of the year, Victor Wembanyama would have had a good chance of seeing his name engraved on the trophy. Chosen by the San Antonio Spurs in first position during the prestigious NBA draft, a first for a Tricolor, the young basketball player sparked almost unprecedented excitement across the Atlantic. At almost 20 years old (he will celebrate on January 4), he seems set to become one of the great stars of his sport.

Photo credit: STEPH CHAMBERS / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP

His debut in the NBA, very encouraging despite the series of defeats suffered by his team, only confirmed the immense potential contained in this 2.22m giant. However, some have criticized him for his non-participation in the Basketball World Cup, which he had skipped in order to focus on the NBA season.

Antoine Dupont: the unfortunate soldier

This was one of the striking images of the Rugby World Cup, organized in France. That of Antoine Dupont, the French captain, nailed to the pitch at the Stade Vélodrome after a clash with Namibian captain Johan Deysel. An injury which first silenced the Marseille enclosure before worrying all lovers of the French XV. But in an almost miraculous way, the scrum-half finally returned to the field more quickly than expected, to the point of being lined up from the start, in the quarter-finals, against South Africa. An express return, but a cruel outcome for the Blues, beaten by a whisker by the Springboks, future world champions.

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Photo credit: MATTHIEU MIRVILLE / DPPI VIA AFP

Max Verstappen: records in chaos

Dutch Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen didn’t just win a third consecutive world championship title this season. He also shattered a series of records, some of which seemed difficult to achieve. Constant domination and competition reduced to nothing which resulted in dizzying figures which our journalist compiled in this article.

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Photo credit: Jewel SAMAD / AFP

Novak Djokovic: a king clinging to his throne

The passing years seem to act as a makeover for Novak Djokovic. At 36, the Serbian tennis player finished the 2023 season in first place in the world. For the eighth time in his career. A record. With the exception of Wimbledon, which the young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz managed to snatch from his hands at the end of an anthology final, “Nole” won the other three Grand Slam tournaments of the year. Before a climax conclusion, in Turin, with a seventh Masters gleaned. In the kingdom of the little yellow ball, the sovereign is not about to hand over his crown.

Léon Marchand: the new terror of the ponds

He does not practice a sport particularly accustomed to the spotlight, but he is perhaps the French athlete who has shone the most individually over the past year. At only 21 years old, Léon Marchand has invited himself to the table of swimming giants and will be one of the major assets of the French delegation during the Paris Olympic Games. In Fukuoka, Japan, he not only won three new world titles. Above all, he debunked the 400m medley record held by American legend Michael Phelps. A real feat.

The Lebrun brothers, on the road to glory

If swimming does not always focus the spotlight on it, what can we say about table tennis which we rediscover, or almost, every four years during the Olympics. And yet, the discipline has in its ranks a French duo who could well shake up the hierarchy in a few months in Paris. The youngest, Félix Lebrun, 17 years old, already occupies 8th place in the world and distinguished himself last summer by triumphing at the European Games in Krakow. The eldest Alexis, 20 years old, and 23rd in the world, had reached the semi-finals of the competition. Unknown to the general public a year ago, the siblings will be one of the major assets of the French delegation in the race for medals next summer.

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Photo credit: HERVIO JEAN-MARIE / KMSP / KMSP VIA AFP

Simone Biles, triumphant return

She was one of those who imposed the theme of mental health among athletes in the public debate. During the last Olympics, in Tokyo, Simone Biles shortened her Games, citing the need to “focus on herself”, while immense pressure weighed on her shoulders, given her status as a superstar in the discipline. After several months of total break with high-level sport, the 26-year-old American made a thunderous return to the World Championships in Antwerp by winning four gold medals and a silver medal. In Paris, the storm warning has already been issued: the Simone Biles tornado is ready to surge again.

Jonas Vingegaard, a tour de force and questions

A year after his first victory in the Tour de France, Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard did it again last summer. A second success in a row, acquired under the nose of his main rival, Tadej Pogačar, whose competition will have been definitively ruled out on the evening of the 16th stage. A dazzling time trial which, however, challenged certain observers and aroused some doubts as to the cleanliness of the rider who, for his part, brushed aside any suspicion of doping.

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Photo credit: Etienne GARNIER / POOL / AFP

Clarisse Agbégnénou, once again on the roof of the world

However, the year had started badly for the French judoka, in conflict with her federation due to a dispute between her personal equipment supplier (Mizuno) and that of the FFJ (Adidas). Deprived of a coach at the Tel Aviv Grand Slam, Clarisse Agbégnénou will wash away the affront three months later by winning his 6th world title in Doha, Qatar. Less success, on the other hand, during the last European Championships with a modest 7th place, which however cannot dampen the hopes that the French delegation places in it with a view to the Paris Games.

Jennifer Hermoso, the kick in the anthill

She is the one who brought down the boss of Spanish football. In the wake of title of world champion, won with La Roja, Jennifer Hermoso is the victim of a forced kiss from Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish football federation, during the medal ceremony. An episode which provoked a boycott of the selection by the players and a powerful wave of indignation on the other side of the Pyrenees. Initially denouncing “false feminism” and categorically ruling out the option of resignation, the 46-year-old leader, targeted from all sides, including in the governmental sphere, still ended up handing over his apron on September 11 last.





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