With only two qualified for the Olympics, French wrestling will be very reduced in strength in Paris

No need to pull out the clever calculations to understand that the ratio is not good. A simple glance is enough. 2 out of 288. That’s not heavy. With only two qualified out of the 288 wrestlers expected from August 5 to 11 at the Arena Champs-de-Mars, French wrestling will be very reduced in strength this summer at the Paris Olympics, with the “Home Games” effect not working. in this historical discipline.

An anomaly of the Olympic program, wrestling is one of the only sports where France did not benefit from any guaranteed quota thanks to its status as host country. No privilege, qualification passed through the field and only through the field.

“It’s obviously a very big disappointment, we’re not going to hide itregrets Patrick Vazeilles, performance director of the FFLutte. It was a very special atmosphere, a competition where everything is played out like that sometimes for nothing, it requires very strong mental qualities. For some who were having their first experience of Olympic qualifying, perhaps they were taken by the event and the stakes. The Paris 2024 objective is very ambivalent. It’s both an incredible daily motivation but when you’re in this type of tough competition, you have to know how to manage it, the desire not to miss the Games in Paris must not take over. And unfortunately for some, that was the case. »

Only 16 wrestlers competing per category at the Olympics

Since the start of the qualification campaign, Yvon Riemer, the manager of the French team, has never stopped emphasizing one point: in wrestling, the hardest part is not necessarily winning a medal at the Games. but to qualify. “When we see the number of European, world and even Olympic medalists who will stay at home and watch the Olympics on TV, it’s just enormoussays Riemer, while in the French ranks, the 2023 Greco-Roman world champion Ibrahim Ghanem is part of this long list of notable absentees. It’s sad and above all very hard for the athletes. But we’re not the only ones. For example, if we take freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, countries like Denmark, Croatia, Sweden or Norway, with very good wrestlers, regular medalists in Grand Championships, have no qualifiers. Romania, one. Bulgaria and Hungary, two. It’s so hard. »

In a context of regular addition of sports to the Olympic Games decided by the IOC, wrestling must properly fight to preserve its place in the Olympic fortnight. The arrival of women’s wrestling in 2004 in Athens also divided the medals, resulting in six weight categories per style. The Olympic program becomes very strict with sixteen qualified per category, the competition starting directly in the round of 16.

In this very tight context, it is impossible to guarantee a host country quota in each category. Which the Blues inevitably regret. “Today we talk a lot about equity, there equity is not respected compared to other disciplinescontinues Riemer. This should be applied to everyone, I don’t see why certain sports have the right to host country quotas and not us. But hey, that’s how it is, we deal with it. »

“The spotlight will not come from the number of French people involved but from the results of Koumba and Mamadassa, hopes Vazeilles. We are not going to repeat history, we are inevitably disappointed but we will very quickly move on to the final preparation up to the Games. We have two qualifiers who have real aspirations and potential for Olympic titles, we will do everything to put them in the best conditions on the day. »

Quadruple world medalist and leader of the French team for several years already, Larroque (25 years old) will inevitably be eagerly awaited for her second Olympic participation. Sylla (30 years old) will participate in his first Games and will try to get on his very first podium in a Grand Championship. Hoping, this time, to be carried by the “Home Games” spirit.