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 FRA/FRANCE
Paris is a city that is
intricately linked with the sport of Volleyball. It
was in the City of Light, in 1947, that the
International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) was
established and since that moment France’s national
team have made their presence felt on the Volleyball
courts around the world. The 1956 World Championship
was held in Paris, with the Tricolours taking
seventh place. Thirty years later the same event was
held in the same city with the French ranked sixth.
The ‘80s decade found France among Europe’s
Volleyball elite. The bronze medal in 1985, in
Amsterdam, was the team’s first international medal.
The silver medal at the European Championship in
Gant followed two years later. Their first Olympic
Games participation came in 1988, with France
finishing in eighth place. In 1992, in Barcelona,
they were ranked 11th, which was how France’s most
successful team came full circle.
The new Millennium has signaled France’s
counterattack: fifth in 2001 at the World League
event; the bronze medal at the 2002 World
Championship, after bringing Olympic gold medalists
Serbia and Montenegro to heel in the bronze medal
match; and fifth in last year’s World Cup,
confirming their rise in the world of competition.
The magic wand of coach Philippe Blain (who was the
1987 European MVP despite the French defeat by the
Soviet Union in the final) and the talent of Frantz
Granvorka, Loic De Kergret, Laurent Capet, Philippe
Barca-Cysique, Dominique Daquin, Stephane Antiga and
Hubert Henno will guide the French national team’s
efforts to achieve distinction at the Athens Olympic
tournament.
One thing that has plagued this team of quality
talent is consistency. Just when this wonderfully
exciting side has produced one of their top-draw
performances, which is capable of outdoing the top
teams, they tend to follow it up with a match they
would rather forget. This year’s World League they
went close to qualifying but don’t read anything
into that as coach Blain admitted that as far as
France was concerned, all eyes were on Athens. |
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