Fencing and cycling are some of the many sports in which the French athletes have excelled in their illustrious Olympic history.
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France has been one of the most successful countries in the history of the Olympics. Having won a mammoth 716 medals, the French team is placed fifth in the overall ranking. The Frenchmen have won more medals than fourth-placed China’s tally of 546. However, the Chinese have clinched more gold medals (224) than France’s tally of 212, thereby sitting a place above the European heavyweights. Besides, the French athletes have won 241 silver and 263 bronze medals. The one after Tokyo Games will take place in Paris as the French capital will play host for the third time in 2024. It has previously hosted the Games in 1900 and 1924.
Judoka Clarisse Agbegnenou and gymnast Samir Ait Said were announced as the flag bearers at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. They both are gold-medal favourites in their respective categories. The French delegation to the Tokyo Olympic Games will be made up of 378 athletes – 212 men and 166 women – representing 31 federations. In the last Olympics (2016 Rio Games), France finished seventh with 42 medals in total, including ten gold medals. Heading into the Japanese capital for the upcoming Games, the Frenchmen will be hoping to improve their previous Olympic outing.
In terms of tally and rankings, France’s best Olympics was way back in 1900 when they hosted the Games in Paris. The French nationals won a staggering 101 medals across all competitions, including a mouth-watering 26 gold medals. They also picked up 41 silver and 34 bronze medals. The feat achieved in Paris a century ago did not appear likely to be matched by another French team in the years that followed. Infact the French athletes have only won forty plus medals on three other occasions. They were in Antwerp 1920, Beijing 2008 and Rio de Janeiro 2016. The 43 they managed in Beijing is their second-highest medal tally. But that year they struggled to find the gold medal as they won only seven and finished at 10th spot.
In the 1900 Games, no opening or closing ceremonies were held. Women took part in the games for the first time, and sailor Helene de Pourtales, who was an American-born sailor, competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics representing Switzerland and became the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal. The host nation – France – fielded 72% of all athletes (720 of the 997) and won the most gold, silver and bronze medals. Great Britain had won 17 gold medals and United States won nine gold medals.
Fencing has produced more Olympic medalists from France than any other sport. Between 1948 and 1956, Christian d’Oriola won four gold medals and two silver medals in men’s foil. From 1920 to 1928, Lucien Gaudin won four medals in foil (two gold, two silver) and two in epee (both gold). No other French athlete from any sport can match their total of four gold medals. French athletes have bagged a staggering 118 medals in fencing.
Fencers Philippe Cattiau and Roger Ducret have the most Olympic medals in France, with eight each – both athletes have three gold, four silver, and one bronze. Cattiau bagged his medals in individual foil and epee events over five Games between 1920 and 1936. Meanwhile, Ducret won five of his eight at just the 1924 Games, including all three of his gold. The male fencers have done well in the team competitions at recent Summer Games, winning gold in team foil at Sydney 2000 and in team sabre at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. The French men’s epee team also won gold in 2004, 2008, and 2016.
Cycling is another sport where the nation has witnessed a lot of success. France has won more gold medals (41) and total medals (91) in the sport than any other country. Track cyclist Daniel Morelon has a total of five medals at the Games, which includes back-to-back gold in men’s sprint in 1968 and 1972. Besides, Florian Rousseau won the 1km time trial on the track at the 1996 Games in Atlanta and then clinched gold in keirin and team sprint, as well as silver in sprint, four years later in Sydney.
It is to be noted that Felicia Ballanger is France’s most successful female track cyclist, winning a total of three gold medals across the 1996 and 2000 Games. France’s most recent road cycling medal came at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, when Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli won bronze in the women’s individual time trial. Four years earlier Longo-Ciprelli had won gold in the road race and silver in the individual time trial.
Other notable performances involve track athlete Marie-Jose Perec, who has three Olympic gold medals, winning back-to-back 400m titles in 1992 and 1996. She also claimed victory in the 200m at Atlanta 1996. Renaud Lavillenie, a pole vaulter, won France’s most recent Olympic gold medal in athletics at the 2012 London Games. Elsewhere, ten-time world champion judoka Teddy Riner won Olympic gold in 2012 and 2016 Games.
