The extended lists of players who will compete in the Paris Olympic Games this summer with France were revealed this Thursday, May 16. Among the Blues, the young prodigy of the San Antonio Spurs, Victor Wembanyama, will be there. As for the women’s selection, Sandrine Gruda will not be there.
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After silver in 1948, in 2000 and in 2020 for the Blues, and silver in 2012 for their female compatriots, France basketball will she take home the most precious metal this summer? That’s the goal anyway. And we finally know the first version of the composition of the French men’s and women’s teams which will compete in the Olympic Games 2024 home.
Unsurprisingly, Thomas Heurtel is not selected for the men. The playmaker is no longer in the plans of the French team since his decision, in September 2022, to sign up with the Zénith Saint-Pétersburg club, despite a charter which stipulated that no international tricolor does not play for a Russian club, after the start of the war in Ukraine.
Wemby present, Gruda at the dock
Vincent Collet, the man who has led the Blues since 2009, will be able to count on Victor Wembanyama. The San Antonio Spurs star, voted Rookie of the Year across the Atlantic in the NBA, will be closely watched for his first international tournament with the France team. He will be accompanied by other players accustomed to the elite of North American basketball such as Nicolas Batum, Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert, recently voted Best Defender in the NBA for the fourth time in his career. Nando De Colo, a given time uncertain, is also retained.
As for the French women’s team, coach Jean-Aimé Toupane has decided to do without Sandrine Gruda. Top scorer in the history of the selection with 2,787 points in 225 caps, the pivot, international since 2006, will not play a fourth edition of the Olympic Games. Marine Johannès, Valéria Ayayi and even Romane Bernies are selected.
There are currently 19 male and 18 female players. In the coming weeks of preparation, these lists will be reduced to 12 from one side to the other before the start of the Games. The group stage will take place in Lille, at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium, from July 27 to August 4. Then, the knockout matches and the classification matches will take place at the Arena Bercy in Paris, from August 6 to 11.
Expanded list of the French men’s team
Leaders : Andrew Albici, Killian Hayes, Théo Maledon, Frank Ntilikina, Matthew Strazel
Exteriors : Nicolas Batum, Isaïa Cordinier, Bilal Coulibaly, Nando De Colo, Ousmane Dieng, Evan Fournier, Nadir Hifi, Elie Okobo
Interiors : Rudy Gobert, Jaylen Hoard, Mathias Lessort, Vincent Poirier, Victor Wembanyama, Guerschon Yabusele
Expanded list of the French women’s team
Leaders : Romane Bernies, Marine Fauthoux, Leïla Lacan, Carla Leite, Marie Pardon
Exterior : Pauline Astier, Valéria Ayayi, Marie-Paule Foppossi, Marine Johannès, Sarah Michel Boury, Janelle Salaün, Mamignan Touré, Gabby Williams
Interior : Marième Badiane, Alexia Chery, Dominique Malonga, Iliana Rupert, Ana Tadic