Solene Delinger
modified to
07:24, February 05, 2022
Claude Onesta believes in the potential of French athletes. Invited to the microphone of Thierry Dagiral this Saturday morning on Europe 1, the former coach of the French handball team, now high performance manager within the National Sports Agency, confides his ambitions for the Olympic Games in winter in Beijing. He hopes that the Blues will bring back 17 medals.
“They want to fight it out”
“We hope for a total of 17 medals”, he assures on Europe 1. On the other hand, Claude Onesta assures that he does not “set objectives”. “It would be pretentious”, he underlines at the microphone of Thierry Dagiral. “I believe that we discuss a lot with the interested parties, the coaches, the national technical directors of the federations. There are also analyzes which are made at the world level, with regard to the competitions”.
According to Claude Onesta, the French are in good shape. “They are doing quite well. I think they are especially happy that the competitions are starting. You know, the Olympic Games are an appointment that we have been preparing for for a very long time”. The health situation has complicated things for athletes, some of whom have not been able to compete in major competitions for two years. They will therefore have to get back into the bath. “We have to be able to compete,” underlines Claude Onesta. “Especially in the context of the last two years where everything is complicated, where you never know what the near future will be. But I think they are there and now they want to fight it out”.
The Olympics, “a magnificent laboratory”
What role will Claude Onesta play in this competition? “The Olympics is a fairly sensitive place where you just have to see. You shouldn’t change what the athletes are used to living. As a general rule, you have to leave them in their bubble. You have to let them in all this work that they have implemented with their staff. We must interfere as little as possible”, he explains. “We go there to observe, to discuss, to better understand. It’s a magnificent laboratory, because there, all of a sudden, you are in a situation. There are ideas, there are analyzes which will have to be done in a very fine way. So, it is still useful. It is a real photograph which is used to build the next four years”.
Optimizing the potential of athletes
Throughout the competition, Claude Onesta will also make sure to accompany the athletes. “I try to put the means where it is needed so that those who have potential manage to implement it. So, we work a lot in connection with the coaches”, he affirms on Europe 1, before remember: “But those who make the champions are the champions themselves, of course, and their coaches”.