Official commentator for the French women’s team, Xavier Hamel is preparing to cover the EHF EURO 2024 broadcast in full on beiN SPORTS. The Norman looks back on his first steps in handball and talks about his memories before the continental meeting.
How did you get into handball or… was it handball that came to you?
A bit of both! It’s still a sport that I’ve enjoyed following for a long time now, whether it’s the French championship or the French women’s and men’s teams. When beIN SPORTS started, which owned the rights to the London 2012 Olympics, there were a lot of matches to comment on. I was then approached and I was introduced to Amélie Goudjo and François-Xavier Houlet who were already consultants. On the field side, I was not licensed but I played handball as part of the UNSS, in addition to football.
And you attack your 10e season since the 2015 men’s and women’s Worlds…
Indeed, my first competition was that of the boys in 2015, in Qatar then the Women’s World Cup in Denmark, the same year. If the boys were already very competitive, this period coincided with the rise in power of the girls.
Since Rio 2016, apart from two competitions, the French team has systematically won a title or a medal. Do you feel privileged to follow this team?
It’s an immense privilege and a chance to follow the performances of the France team. Even if we don’t show our blue jersey on the air, it’s never far away. It’s a group that we like to follow because they are really very pleasant. It’s very easy to work with him, in a warm atmosphere which matters to Amélie and to me who are attached to human relationships.
You follow and comment on other disciplines. How is the world of handball unique?
I do indeed notice differences. The French team is the reigning world champion, Olympic vice-champion and yet remains very accessible. We can talk normally with everyone. We do not find this proximity in more hierarchical disciplines.
Like athletes, do you have a particular routine before high-stakes matches?
I have no routine or particular superstitions. I don’t put the same notebook in the same school bag (laughing). To leave the confined atmosphere of the hotel, I simply enjoy going out for some fresh air to refresh my thoughts.
Do you sometimes ask the staff to prepare certain matches, for example against less usual opponents, for example Portugal next week?
With the internet, there are always possibilities to watch what foreign teams and players are doing without necessarily disturbing the French team’s video service. Many videos are in fact present on the federations’ sites. If there is something more specific, I can sometimes ask the Blue staff but most often I rely on someone who has a lot of experience and knowledge of the players.
When the performance is not there, which remains very occasional, do you censor yourself in your comments?
I try to remain as objective and as natural as possible. If I observe something that I don’t necessarily like or if there is a way of playing that is perhaps a little less efficient, I then insist on finding the joy of playing again. There’s no point pushing it all in and, in any case, I don’t think I’m being mean. And above all, it hasn’t happened very often. When the French team did not advance through the preliminary round of the 2019 World Cup in Japan, it really looked like an accident and it was treated like that. And what followed proved us right because they came back in 2020 with silver at the Euro then the following year with the Olympic title. A poor performance can happen knowing that staying at the top is the most difficult thing.
What is your best memory, and the worst, of all the women’s competitions you have followed?
This might seem strange because the performance was there, but I don’t have very good memories of the 2021 World Cup in Spain. There were remnants of Covid with few people in the rooms which were devoid of atmosphere. Scandinavian supporters and the French hardly made the trip. The competition had been organized in haste. The French team was to play in Barcelona and ultimately played its matches in Granollers in a somewhat old-fashioned hall. Conversely, in Japan, despite the poor performance during the 2019 World Cup, it remains a good memory. Worlds since 2015, this is the only time we have left Europe. The atmosphere was completely different and I remember a very impressive organization. This trip to Japan remains a great human memory rather than a sporting one.
Other memories?
Of course, there is the first world champion title in 2017. It’s quite a memory: I still have the images of Hamburg in my mind. We didn’t necessarily expect the French team to win. The band was really good and we really felt like there was something happening. I also don’t forget the title in 2018 won at home. There is also last year’s World title. Quite frankly, I think I have never seen such a strong French team. They unfolded from start to finish: in the main round, there was this extraordinary match against Norway. It was the best match of the French team that I saw in terms of intensity, aggressiveness and team spirit.
A few days before the start of the EHF EURO 2024, how do you assess this French team at the end of the four preparation matches?
Performing at the Olympic Games is mentally demanding, especially when they are played at home. For the girls, this was undoubtedly the huge goal of their sporting life. They performed well but the fact of having lost in the final must have left them with a small scar that probably needs to be healed. There are perhaps players who had other ideas in mind, perhaps more personal, who ultimately remained in the team, so the group has not changed enormously. The fact that Olivier Krumbholz is no longer there is necessarily something that also changes the lives of the players even if they know Sébastien Gardillou very well. The fact that he’s now a number, that may also be something that needs to be approached a little more differently.
In Toulon, Hungary had been really very good while the French team was setting up with several absentees. Last Friday, they clearly missed their match against Spain. This is also one of the things that can happen but, against Angola, there was a kind of almost physical rebellion of not wanting to be stepped on. This collective and aggressive dynamic is something that we really saw in the last ten minutes.
