The Beijing Winter Olympics, which kicked off on February 4, 2022, offer an opportunity for French athletes to shine on ice as well as on snow and to bring back to France a good harvest of medals. Here are 5 things to know about the French delegation at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games.
While the French delegation at the previous Winter Olympics had a hundred athletes (108 precisely in Pyeongchang), there are only 88 this year to represent France in Beijing.
Indeed, we did not manage to qualify a team in the curling and ice hockey tournaments.
The French women's ice hockey team narrowly failed to qualify after a loss in the final of the pre-Olympic tournament.
At the opening ceremony of these Games, the French delegation was led by two flag bearers: the freestyle skier Kevin Rolland and the alpine skier Tessa Worley.
The former, who suffered a serious accident in 2019, is a miracle worker on the ski jumps.
The second boasts one of the finest records in French women's alpine skiing. At 32 years old, Tessa is indeed the double world champion in giant slalom. All that is missing is an Olympic medal.
As at the Tokyo Olympics, it is a pair that was chosen to lead the French delegation. This duo succeeds the five-time Olympic biathlon champion Martin Fourcade who was the flag bearer in 2018.
This perfect parity could not be respected in the composition of the French delegation to the Beijing 2022 Olympics, which has a total of 51 men and 37 women.
As for the biathlete and cross-country skier Benjamin Daviet, who has six Paralympic medals to his name, including three gold medals, he has been appointed flag bearer for the Paralympic Games to be held from March 4 to 13, 2022.
At the previous Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018, France won 15 medals including 5 gold.
It then equaled its previous record from Sochi (15 medals in all), but with an additional gold medal.
In 2018, the French delegation ranked ninth among the most medal-winning countries, with the top 3 occupied by Norway with 39 medals, Germany with 31 medals and Canada with 29 medals.
Our own record of 15 medals is a figure that the Tricolor athletes hope to match or even surpass this year.
Some French athletes like skier Alexis Pinturault are highly anticipated in Beijing.
It's been sixteen years since France won an Olympic title in Alpine skiing (since Antoine Dénériaz's title in the downhill event in Turin).
But that could all change this year with athletes Clément Noël in slalom and Alexis Pinturault entered in several events.
In the women's event, France will be able to count on skier Tessa Worley, who is our best chance to win gold.
In biathlon, too, French athletes are highly anticipated, with more than 20 podium finishes this season.
We can hope to shine in this discipline, thanks to champions like Émilien Jacquelin and Quentin Fillon Maillet.
On the women's side, we will be closely following the performances of Julia Simon and Anaïs Bescond. The latter has already won Olympic medals (one gold and two bronze) and will arrive at the competition without pressure.
While the days of France's Surya Bonaly, Philippe Candeloro and Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay dominating figure skating are over, the Couple Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron is our best chance of winning a medal in ice dance.
They were indeed the 2018 Olympic runners-up and will go for the gold.
However, the competition will be tough in this discipline where Russian, American and Canadian couples could also stand out.
Please note that if you want to follow the performances of our French athletes live, you may have to stay up late or get up very early!
Indeed, the broadcasting of the events on the channels of the France Télévisions group starts at 2am, time difference obliges.
This 7-hour time difference with Beijing also explains why the closing ceremony will be broadcast at 1pm French time (i.e. 8pm local time) on Sunday, February 20.
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