In 2024, Stade Toulouse, winner of the Champions Cup for the sixth time in its history, won the stars. The heroes of France 7 won Olympic gold when the French XV, beaten in the World Cup, announced their reconquest in November. It would all have been so beautiful, without the accumulation of affairs…
If there is a common point between the exceptional results of Stade Toulouse and those fluctuating of the XV of France in 2024, it bears a surname: Antoine Dupont. “An ordinary name, but an extraordinary man”, as its president Didier Lacroix liked to repeat. It’s hard to contradict him after a year during which he touched everything he touched in gold. And, if some dared to mention any whim at the time of embarking on his Olympic adventure at 7, this was to overshadow how much the person concerned had anticipated it for years. When he extended his contract at Stade Toulouse in 2021, the international scrum-half had already discussed the subject with his managers, who (even if there was no official written clause) had assured him of putting everything in place. works to enable him to make his dream come true. For once, in this sport, that all the parties concerned sat around a table to negotiate and develop a precise plan a year and a half in advance… It must be said that in terms of sporting contribution and exhibition, the FFR had also smelled the right thing. The sequel proved Dupont right. Above all, it placed the French 7 on the roof of the planet.
Dupont, the wink of destiny
The first day of the rest of the existence of this discipline in France? Last January 3, when the captain of the Blues set foot in Marcoussis… among the septists this time for an integration training course. The reality? This is because the Toulouse man had already started to follow a tailor-made program and to impose additional sessions on Ernest-Wallon’s side to strengthen himself physically and promote his adaptation to 7. He was the missing piece in the building by Jérôme Daret, who had interfered with the best teams on the planet Sevens, without ever winning a stage. Dupont’s deflowering on the circuit took place in Vancouver, with bronze to come. The rest was golden, only golden. The Los Angeles stage in the bag, the world final in Madrid. Then the apotheosis at the Stade de France. Where Paulin Riva’s teammates were the first to fill the enclosure and bring back a medal of the most precious metal to the nation. This at the end of a grandiose final against the Fijian masters which saw Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang and Andy Timo shine. And the essential Dupont, whose management by Daret was a gem, made a sensational entrance at the break, with a gigantic breakthrough on his first ball then two tries. Enough to be a star of these Olympics, alongside Léon Marchand, Teddy Riner, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot or Victor Wembanyama, and finish as the tricolor flag bearer during the closing ceremony. The same place where, less than ten months earlier, he had experienced the biggest defeat of his career against South Africa. Nice nod to an extraordinary destiny, which was well worth a choreography repeated all summer by the septists, from the France club to Ibiza, via the Trocadéro.
Belgium
