A room of 2,500 seats, the enthusiasm of the public, a tenfold expectation: back on their lands in Hérault, two months after their bronze medal with the French team at the Paris Olympics, the Lebrun brothers tasted the effects of their Olympic triumph on Thursday. Facing Félix, Alexis and their partners from Nîmes-Montpellier, the Jura Morez team. A poster of the French club championship which would normally have taken place in front of a few dozen spectators, in the cramped Alain-Achille room.
But the media and popular impact of their Parisian success, with a team medal for the two brothers and another for Félix individually, led the club to relocate this match to the Castelnau-le-Lez sports center, the Montpellier-Hérault volleyball den of double Olympic champion Nicolas Le Goff. “Our room, with a capacity of 200 spectators, will be renovated, but it cannot be enlarged. This is why we relocated our matches. So today we are playing in Castelnau“, explains Stéphane Lebrun, manager of the Nîmes-Montpellier table tennis Alliance and father of the two French prodigies.
Thursday, for this first outing on their land, 1,200 Montpellier residents came to see “in real“the two magicians of the tricolor ping. But the atmosphere is family, far from the madness of the Paris Arena for the Olympics. They are just there to discover the “two brothers with an incredible story“. “I didn’t follow ping-pong, I wanted to see a real match. Thanks to the Olympics, they introduced this sport and gave it better visibility. And then, they have an incredible story, these two brothers, they take pleasure in what they do“, greets Istrid, usually a supporter of Téji Savanier’s MHSC, who came with her two children.
“I’m coming to see them for the first time after following their journey at the Olympics. In Paris, they made everyone vibrate. They have extraordinary dynamism and reflexes. But above all they are humble. They are as they are. It’s beautiful to see”, appreciates Lucas, a 23-year-old videographer. In a metropolis which accumulates sports at the highest level, the entourage of the bronze medalists in Paris had to knock on the doors of the various clubs in Montpellier to respond to the expectations and the excitement of the public.
They are the same and have not changed in any way
“We had anticipated at club level. We are not surprised by the influx of licensees, but by the enthusiasm. There are people who come and congratulate us. We have somewhat small infrastructures, the major problem is there. We can’t push the walls“, pleads Stéphane Lebrun. Hugo, 26 years old, licensed in Montpellier, knows well “the two brothers“. “I was not in Paris, to my great regret, but they were magnificent at the Olympics. They demonstrated their talent, with the consecration of two medals. This makes the ping glow, which has changed dimension. They are themselves, simple and humble. People like it. Since their return, we have met them at the gym. They are the same. They haven’t changed anything“, assures this table tennis player who plays at the regional level.
But the Lebrun brothers and their tribe have not finished traveling. They travel to the four corners of the world to compete in tournaments. But they are also nomads in their city of Montpellier. In two weeks, between October 22 and 27, they will be at the Arena Sud de France for a WTT tournament.
