Rugby sevens will be one of the most watched sports at the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Rugby sevens has been enjoying a new and growing popularity and exposure for some time now. A few months before the Olympic Games, where the discipline has been present since 2016, the craze is already palpable and the chances of French medals are significant, both for men and women. This media appeal is not unrelated to the announced presence among the Blues of the best rugby player in the world, namely Antoine Dupont.
His presence in the French rugby sevens team at the Vancouver and Los Angeles tournaments, while his teammates from the French XV were rowing in the Six Nations Tournament, gave a media spotlight to this more confidential discipline. All the more so since the French performed well by winning the tournament in Los Angeles and finishing third in Canada.
But there are other important players in this fine selection of the French VII. Jefferson-Lee Joseph is one of the young hopefuls who count. Born in Guadeloupe, the wing-back was trained as a “quinziste” (also a rugby union player) in Agen, in Lot-et-Garonne. He also chose his jersey number, 47, because of this department. However, Jefferson-Lee Joseph’s story is also linked to music.
He is in fact the son of Jeff Joseph, the famous Guadeloupean singer of the group Gramacks. Although his name is not necessarily well-known in mainland France, Jeff Joseph, who died in 2011, was particularly popular in the Antilles. “When I go back to the Antilles, people talk to me about my father, about what he did,” explains Jefferson-Lee Joseph. His father had also collaborated with the New York funk group “Kool and The Gang” during his solo career.
If Jefferson-Lee Joseph is now fully focused on rugby sevens, he hopes to return to the fifteens one day. He is still under contract with Agen. “I would like not to lose the thread and switch back soon, even if I know that there will be an adaptation period, inevitably”, explains the French team player. An adaptation that could lead to a dream: one day joining the French XV, “the goal of every rugby player” according to him.
Jefferson-Lee Joseph will be present this summer alongside Antoine Dupont for the Olympic tournament, from July 24 to 27. In the meantime, the SVNS Sevens Series international championship continues, with the stages in Hong Kong, Singapore and Madrid. These will be an opportunity for the French team to perfect its preparation. Jefferson-Lee Joseph will participate in these three tournaments, notably alongside Stephen Parez and Théo Forner.