French star Antoine Dupont taking part in rugby sevens Olympics training
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Antoine Dupont will be taking part in the sevens in mid-November.
PHOTO: AFP
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TOULOUSE – France rugby union captain and scrum-half Antoine Dupont took part in his first preparatory day on Jan 3 for the Paris Olympics rugby sevens event.
The 27-year-old joined 16 other seven-a-side players at the Marcoussis national training centre near Paris, ahead of his two world circuit sevens events in Vancouver in February and in Los Angeles in March.
The Olympics start on July 26.
Last November, his club Toulouse, the French Rugby Federation and Dupont himself announced the news that he would be taking part in the sevens series.
French rugby’s poster boy, Dupont was named World Rugby Player of the Year in 2021 and won the Six Nations Grand Slam during his 52 Test appearances, so all eyes will be on him during the Olympics.
“For all sports fans, the Olympic Games are mythical,” he said in November, when announcing he would be missing the upcoming Six Nations championship to prepare for Paris 2024.
“Competing for an Olympic medal is really motivating. Sacrifices will have to be made to be able to spend time with the team. And being able to host such a sporting event in France, it is going to be an incredible party.”
Dupont trained with Toulouse on Jan 2 before joining up with the sevens side, and it remains to be seen if he will be able to manage his time and body well, so as not to be impacted too much.
The men’s sevens at the Olympics will be held at the Stade de France less than a year after October’s disappointing result in the 15-a-side code in the same stadium, where France were eliminated at the World Cup by eventual winners South Africa in the quarter-finals.
A host of other leading 15-a-side players have featured at past Olympic Games, including South Africa winger Cheslin Kolbe and former New Zealand centre Sonny Bill Williams, who have both won the World Cup twice.
Fiji have won both men’s gold medals since seven-a-side rugby was introduced into the Olympics, with the longer format of the sport having last featured in 1924.
Dupont’s football counterpart, the Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe, is also keen to take part in the Games on home soil.
San Antonio Spurs’ French basketball phenom Victor Wembanyama is another who has said he wants to compete at the Olympics in the city where he grew up.
AFP, REUTERS
