Paris Olympics: France defends men's volleyball title
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00They couldn't have started any better for the hosts, really.
00:03They've claimed their 15th gold medal, which equals Atlanta in 1996.
00:08If they were to grab one more, it would be their best medal haul in over 120 years.
00:12This time it was in the volleyball.
00:15They downed European champions Poland 3-0 in a dominant performance.
00:19The atmosphere at the Paris Sud Arena really was electric.
00:23Everyone was getting behind the French.
00:26The French haven't lost a single set in either the semi-final or the final.
00:30In fact, in the quarterfinals, there were two sets down.
00:33It looked like they were going to go out.
00:34Since then, they won nine sets in a row.
00:36It just goes to show how dominant they've been in the latter stages of this tournament.
00:40It's actually a second consecutive gold for the men in volleyball.
00:44They won back in Tokyo.
00:46They've made that two in a row here.
00:47They were led today by Jean Patry, who was particularly impressive.
00:5017 points, along with the team sensational service game that led to eight aces in total for them.
00:57So 15th gold for French.
00:58For France, they'll be hoping for a 16th somewhere to beat that Atlanta record.
01:02All right. And that was the volleyball final.
01:04But the men are in the basketball final tonight as well.
01:07Yeah, well, talking about a chance for another gold.
01:10They have a chance in the basketball final.
01:13It's their second consecutive final.
01:15They got silver in 2021.
01:17They lost out to the United States there.
01:20There's good news and bad news for France.
01:23The good news is that if you look at their roster, it's considerably stronger than them.
01:26They've added Victor when Victor when Banyama, the rookie of the year, who is NBA superstar.
01:33The bad news is the United States are also considerably stronger than then since 2021 to their starting five.
01:40That added LeBron James, Steph Curry and Joel Embiid, three of the league's best players, to go along with Kevin Durant.
01:46They've been called the dream team.
01:47They've been called the Avengers.
01:49So to say France have their work cut out would be a little bit of an understatement.
01:53And the only glimmer of hope maybe for France is that the US did struggle to get past Serbia in the semifinals.
01:58They nearly went out.
01:59They were down by as many as 13 points.
02:01But look, as a French fan, if you're watching, I wouldn't get my hopes up too much.
02:06But if they do pull up, one of the upsets of all upsets would be France's first ever basketball gold.
02:10Put it into context.
02:11The US men have won 16 of 19 Olympic gold.
02:14So France have their work cut out tonight for sure.
02:16And what about the Stade de France tonight?
02:18What can we expect?
02:19Yeah, it's the last night of athletics at the Stade de France.
02:23Some big finals as always.
02:25There's the men's 5,000 metre final.
02:27There's potential for absolute chaos there because there's 22 runners in the final.
02:31Normally, there's 16 collisions in the heat.
02:34So six runners reinstated into the finals, which is why it's going to be 22.
02:39The 5,000 metres is always a very packed field and potential for chaos.
02:42And that certainly is the case tonight.
02:44One name to look out for is Jacob Ingebrigtsen.
02:47He's a massive favourite to defend his title that he won in Tokyo.
02:50But he was also the favourite for the 1,500 metres.
02:52And he finished fourth.
02:53So you never know.
02:55On the women's side, there's the 1,500 metre final.
02:58Faith Kipchigon of Kenya is very much the woman to beat.
03:01The last time she didn't win the event was in London in 2012.
03:04So she's been so dominant in the race.
03:06So it's hard to look past her.
03:07If you were to look past her, Deribi Wotelji of Ethiopia and Jessica Hull of Australia
03:11may be contenders, also outside contenders.
03:13Nikki Hiltz of the United States and Laura Muir of GB.