The Accor Arena, a massive structure made of concrete, steel and grass, may not look like a ship, but on Friday, August 9, it felt like it was swaying. The arena burned like fire, packed with people dancing, cheering on the players and celebrating a victory won by sheer determination after an intense battle in overtime against European champions Belgium (81-75, OT), taking them to the Olympic final.
“It was a crazy women’s basketball game,” said team captain Sarah Michel Boury. The two large bruises under her eyes, inflicted by an Australian opponent’s elbow in a previous game, perfectly illustrated the nature of the game: a relentless battle between “two incredible teams,” as head coach Jean-Aimé Toupane put it. And in the end, as had been the case all week in Paris’ 12th district, it was a tough game.th Arrondissement, France emerged victorious.
Three years after winning the bronze medal at Tokyo 2021, Marine Johannès and her teammates qualified for the final on Friday August 9. On Sunday August 11, at 3:30 p.m., they will face the ultimate challenge in women’s basketball: the strong American team, unbeaten at the Olympic Games since its semi-final loss to the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States, formerly the USSR) at the 1992 Games in Barcelona. Of the French team, only the captain was born at that time. Just one day after their male colleagues, the French women have fought their way to a dream final at home against the best team in the world – a big final for French basketball, which also took silver in the men’s 3×3 competition on Monday.
Blow by blow
“We watched the game on a big screen and shouted, even though we weren’t alone,” said Sarah Michel Boury about the French men’s team’s semifinal victory against Germany the day before (73:69). “They gave us a boost,” continued the captain, pointing the way to the final. “But we’re not surprised; we know they have character too.”
The common thread in French basketball? The women could be nicknamed “the stubborn ones” like the men. Just like the “brave” The fighting spirit of the men’s team – which had been carried by the trio Mathias Lessort, Isaïa Cordinier and Guerschon Yabusele since the quarter-finals – was also a complete success for the French team. Every Belgian basket was hard fought.
After a cautious start, with both teams showing some nervousness, they traded blows in Bercy. Each team took turns having their brilliant quarters, periods in which one team succeeded in everything it tried while the other faltered.
Jean-Aimé Toupane’s players started the action with a strong series (19-1) that spanned the first two quarters. Rachid Meziane’s Belgian team took the blow and then responded with an uppercut of their own: 26-2 in the second quarter. “It was a game of runs,” admitted Valériane Ayayi, one of the heroines of the French victory (17 points). “It’s often like that with the Belgians. You have to stay calm and tell yourself that you’ll come back.” In recent years, the Belgian Cats had become the arch-enemy of the French women, notably knocking them out of the race for the 2023 European title.
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