Follow France : Wins and Glory !

Archery is actually very similar to StarCraft II in the sense that Koreans destroy everyone and only France can hold its ground.



The french Men's team is pretty much the best all-around team in Europe right now, Unfortunately for us, it's not really where the big names are. France qualified one of the best team in the world (Top 4) in its Men's Team : Gaël Prévost (left) is a extremely talented 18 year old who has recently entered the world top 8, in a technical sport where experience can be a huge factor he is an oddball and can attempt to enter a top 8, a medal would be harder due to his inexperience but a breakout wouldn't be that much surprising; Romain Girouille (center) is a more experienced archer who is a regular Top 20 in the World Cup, he will be the angular stone of the team and its leader but aside from a spectacular performance shouldn't get the 3rd round; finally Thomas Faucheron (right) is a team player, he is considerably weaker than the rest of the team but his consistency in the Team Event makes him a strong ally for a possible team silver medal. I say silver medal because the Korean team is actually that much better than the rest of the top 4 (China, France, USA) If they can avoid Korea in their patch, they could get a well deserved medal.



Bérengère Schuh is not as high profile as the men but she has done some nice World Cup performance in the past placing as high as second place. She could do a good run and get a 3rd Place but I don't expect her to take on the korean team all alone. She won the Bronze Medal in Beijing with the Women's Team but they weren't able to meet the quota this time.

Badminton isn't really France strong point. Even though a man trained in France qualified these Olympics, Brice Leverdez is not really a top player in Badminton. He fall in the group of the weakest seeded player but will probably be unable to advance past the group stage. Hongyan Pi is a China-born player who has some correct results throug her career. Arrived 15 years ago in France, she has been naturalized after that and placed 5th in Beijing. She struggled through a knee injury during the whole season and was barely qualified as a seeded player in the Olympics. Considering her state, a medal is unlikely but she is capable of reaching a top 16.

In a discipline naturally dominated by the USA, France isn't too shabby. The Men's team has several NBA players with a Team Highlighted by Tony Parker. Their performance will be tightly bound to the one of Parker. We can suppose that the absence of Joakim Noah could prove dreadful. However I expect them to enter a Top 8 at least and possibly a Top 4. A medal would depends of the brackets. Their first match is the most difficult against the USA and they will probably lose. The most important matchs will be against Argentina and Lituania.Key members : Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum, Boris Diaw and Ronny Turiaf.



The Women's Team is on fire, they recently beat Australia the vice-champion in the last Olympics as well as Brazil and China. They are probably inside the Top 8 right now and even though the USA is above everyone else, they could aim for the same results as the men. As their group is composed of Australia and Brazil a first place isn't too arrogant to aim for.

The french boxing team can't compare to Cuba but it has 2 chances of medals. First Alexis Vastine (left) in -60kg who were robbed in the last Olympics by a penalty some seconds before the end of the match is coming here to place top 4 at least. Anything but a medal here would still be a huge letdown for him. But that's not the case for Jérémy Beccu (right) in-49kg is an up and coming boxer who could make a big impact this time, while still very young he has the potential to go to a Ro4 as well. The rest of the team is composed of an up and comer in Tony Yoka (left) in +91kg, a former Ro16 Nordine Oubaali (center) in -52kg coming here for a medal but with little chances and a newcomer who is older guy Rachid Azzedine (right) -69kg.

Fencing was for a long time the main Olympic sport for France. Together with Italy, we are the main nations of Fencing.



Since the last Olympics we had troubles regenerating our teams. Epée is traditionally the main weapon for France while Foil is clearly a Italian specialty, but today the strongest french teams are in Foil. The Men's Team fall to China in 2011 in an epic match and if they fence as a team, they have the heart and willpower to go very far. In individual Victor Sintès (left) and Erwann Le Péchoux (center left) are Top 12 and can pretend to a Ro8 and even Ro4. Going further will depends on draws and performance. Their 3rd man Enzo lefort is 27th. The Women's team is stronger in individual with Corinne Maitrejean (center right) 6th and Astrid Guyart (right) 7th and those two have a high chance of medal. Their team is considerably weaker than the Italians or the Koreans and they can aim for a 3rd place.



In Sabre, France is represented by Bolade Apithy (top left) who can hope for a medal even though he isn't on top of his form as shown by his World Cup placing at 10th and by Léonore Perrus (top right) who will struggle to go further than Top16. It's the same story in Epée where Laura Flessel-Colovic (bottom left) would need a herculean effort to get a medal but after being one of the most successful ever, she has nothing to lose. Gauthier Grumier (bottom right) is a awesome Epeist but I don't see him being in top form. One of the most talented french epeist right now, he is coming to win as he did in the last World Championship. I expect him to be at least in Top 4.

While the french Men's team is shaming France competition after competition, the Women's Team is actually quite decent. In the wake of Lyon's win of the Women Champion's League, they are now among the best in the world. Undefeated for 16 consecutive games, they come into the Olympics as a strong contender to the gold medal as they is no clear leader in this category. They lack the experience to go very far but I think they can decently pretend to a medal. Key members : Gaëtane Thiney, Élodie Thomis, Camille Abily and Sonia Bompastor.

In the realm of Judo, there are Gods like Naoya Ogawa. Teddy Riner (top left) in +100kg is just too strong. He should have won the last Olympics but fell against a nasty opponent. He his probably going to be the most titled Judoka in the whole history of the sport. Veni, Vedi, Vici is his motto. Gévrise Emane (center) in -63kg and Lucie Décosse -70kg are favorites too but aren't on the same level as Teddy Riner. I still expect them to have at least a silver medal.

In other Men categories Sofiane Milous in -60kg, David Larose in -66 kg, Ugo Legrand in -73 kg, Alain Schmitt in -81kg, Romain Buffet in -90kg and Thierry Fabre in -100 kg are all placing among the top 22 of their categories but aside from a spectacular performance are unlikely to get a medals.

In the Women categories on the other hand, Automne Pavia in -57kg and Audrey Tcheuméo in -78kg are strong outsiders who could make a big impact and will big names in the next Olympics. Laëtitia Payet in -48kg, Anne-Sophie Mondière in -78kg and Priscilla Gneto in -52kg are also among the Top 22 but will be hard-pressed to place high.

One of the amateur sports of the Olympics, it's not a french specialty but we usually have enough talent to field good boat in Fours and Double. This year there isn't any female boat qualified and we have decent chances of medals in the men.



The best chances of medals come from 2 doubles. First the Lightweight Double Scull with Jérémie Azou (top left) and Stany Delaire (top right) who are among the best in their category right now. In the World Cup their worst performance was 2nd. We can expect at least a top 3 from them even though it seems like an very inexperienced though. Experience is one of the main point of the other Double Scull with Cédric Berrest (bottom left) and Julien Bahain (bottom right) who were 3rd in the last Olympics and World Championship. I am not sure they still have the power to do the same once again but counting them out would be a terrible mistake to make.



Other boats are the Men's Pair with Germain Chardin and Dorian Mortelette who could place in the Top 6, the Men's Lightweight Four with Thomas Baroukh, Fabrice Moreau, Nicolas Moutton and leaded by the experienced Franck Solforosi and finally the Men's Quadruple Scull with Matthieu Androdias, Benjamin Chabanet, Adrien Hardy, Pierre-Jean Peltier.