Basketball. Marine Johannès: “At the Olympic Games, we progressed as a team”

A silver medal at the European Championship, then a bronze medal at the Olympic Games, each time against Serbia. The harvest of Marine Johannès and the French women’s basketball team was particularly fruitful this summer. Interview with the back of the Blues, trained at the USO Mondeville, near Caen (Calvados).

News: How do you feel after this particularly busy summer?

Marine Johannès : I came out tired, mentally and physically. It was necessary to chain the Euro and the Olympics, with very few days off. It was unique but we wanted to show good things.

Has the disappointment of not bringing back a gold medal passed?

M.J. : Of course, we are still hoping for the gold medal. But we try to improve every time and I think that at the Olympics, we improved as a team. It’s very positive for the future. After the defeat against Serbia in the Euro final (63-54), we were very disappointed and it was not easy to follow up. But the Olympics are not every day! We wanted to finish well and, against the Serbs, we had a revenge to take (91-76 in a match for 3rd place)!

“Happy with my walk in a park”

How did you experience these Games without an audience?

M.J. : We were a bit used to it unfortunately since we played the season in this way. It might have been better, even, in the semi-final against Japan because it would have been even more complicated with thousands of Japanese fans … other sports but, on the other hand, life in the Olympic Village was quite open. I thought that we should stay locked in our rooms, so I was happy to even be able to walk in a park!

Did you realize the enthusiasm your career was arousing in France?

M.J. : In our rooms, we watched TV, so we saw that, yes (smile). We also, moreover, we followed the other French team sports teams. It was really cool to see this craze.

Has this article been useful to you? Note that you can follow Sport à Caen in the Mon Actu space. In one click, after registration, you will find all the news of your favorite cities and brands.

–