The French opposite talks about the difficult experience of missing the 2024 Olympic Games.

Stephen Boyer is an Olympic champion from Tokyo 2021. He missed the Olympic Games in Paris due to a right ankle injury he sustained on April 11, 2024, in a Polish league match with Resovia. Until the very end, he hoped to make it to the Olympics at home, but the team's head coach preferred to take Théo Faure.

Here is the French player's full confession:

"When the training camp started, I rated my chances of being ready for the games at 70%. I saw my progress every week. I planned to go to Canada to continue working with the French team. But the coach decided that I was not in shape, and I stayed in Montpellier. Then I was supposed to have a test match in the Philippines, but the coach preferred to keep the team together until the Olympics."

"At that moment, it was a cold shower. I hit rock bottom. There was a lot of anger, pride, but today I look at things differently. When our teams met in the Polish league, I went to Coach Gianni to apologize. For the bad language I used, for my behavior. It's a shame I had to go through that, but it helped me grow as a person and an athlete. The team became Olympic champions, which proves that the coach was right. His decision is undeniable."

"Honestly, it was completely normal for Théo Faure and Jean Patry to be key players in the team. During the Games, I started to realize that. On the one hand, it was a very strange feeling when, very selfishly, you almost hope your friends will lose, but then you say, 'Oh no!' and you want the guys to win!"

"We watched the final in a cafe—all of Poland was there, my fiancée and I too. Throughout the match, I stood, jumped, cheered at every point, and when France won, I sat down. It was a strange feeling. I was so happy for the guys, but then I thought that I could have been there too. Suddenly, I felt immense sadness. I think that's human."

"And then—in the locker room, Earvin Ngapeth video-called me, they had my jersey, just as we wore for Julien Lyneel, Kevin Le Roux, and Thibault Rossard in Tokyo. I cried. During the tournament, I kept in touch with Earvin, he's like a brother to me, and also with Benjamin Toniutti—the true captain. I am grateful to them. I don't have a medal, but I tell myself that thanks to them, I have a small part of it, that I was part of this adventure."

"For seven years, I spent more time with them than with my family. If they need me, I'm ready for the World Championship in September. For many, this will be the last tournament in 'blue,' the last dance for the only title missing. I would like to be there, even if only in the stands, out of respect and to honor these guys who have been winning for years," Boyer concludes in an interview for the French sports daily L'Équipe.

Photo:cev.eu