Barely down from the podium, gold medal around their necks, the Blues turned to the near future. Before letting them go for four days, between now and the Olympic Games preparation camp in Saint-Nazaire, starting Friday (until July 22, the day before they enter the Olympic Village), Andrea Giani, their coach, announced the list of players selected to defend the Olympic title, twelve starters and one substitute.
If the official confirmation should only arrive on Wednesday, validation from the CNOSF requires, it is obvious that at least ten of the twelve gold medalists in Tokyo, three years ago, will be there. The two passers Antoine Brizard and Benjamin Toniutti, indispensable captain for eleven years, the four receiver-attackers (Earvin Ngapeth, Trévor Clévenot, Kevin Tillie and Yacine Louati), the libero Jenia Grebennikov, Jean Patry at the point, and the central Nicolas Le Goff and Barthélémy Chinenyeze, present yesterday alongside his teammates, after a month of treating his knees.
Two new names are known: Théo Faure will replace the point guard Stephen Boyer, whose staff considered that the healing of his ankle injured at the end of the season with the Polish club Rzeszow was not advanced enough, while Faure, 24, showed that he was perfectly suited to the job.
Timothée Carle, the receiver-attacker who returned to the blues last season, will act as the thirteenth man, for a permanent replacement in case of injury. A choice that also allows him to replace the libero, Tillie having already filled this role.
Jouffroy should pocket the last ticket
There was one last name to be confirmed until the final minutes of the Nations League, among three central defenders present during the finals in Lodz. Daryl Bultor, 28 years old, Olympic champion and valuable locker room man, but badly injured in a shoulder to not play this weekend in Poland. Starting at the time of Chinenyeze’s stoppage, in Antalya, he saw Joris Seddik take his place in the following match against Turkey.
Revelation of the competition, despite his errors on serve, the Montpellier native was however more discreet than his 2.12 m during the finals. Perfectly integrated into the group but victim of the faults of his 18 years, he did not, it seems, appreciate the need to impose himself, even to the detriment of an Olympic champion.
The last ticket should therefore be awarded to the reserved Quentin Jouffroy, 31 years old. “Boubou”, his nickname, is the eternal substitute of this team, appearing regularly in service. Starting against Brazil (3-2 victory, 8 points), he was an effective joker in the quarter-finals as well as in the semi-finals in Lodz, then starting again yesterday evening, taking his responsibilities at the net (6 points).
