French gymnasts won the bronze medal in the team competition on Wednesday at the World Championships in Antwerp, less than ten months before the Olympic Games which they will compete at home.
Thanks to a flawless performance, Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos, Coline Devillard, Marine Boyer, Morgane Osyssek and Lorette Charpy collected a score of 164.064 points and gave France its first world team medal since 1950, the second in its history .
The United States of Simone Biles were crowned (167,729 pts) ahead of the Brazilians (165,530 pts).
Only eighth last year at the World Championships in Liverpool, the French showed a radically different face this year, producing a high-level competition. Mélanie “DJDS” in particular shone on all the apparatus, earning 56.50 points alone for Les Bleues.
Third before the last apparatus, the French had to conclude their evening on the beam, the apparatus most prone to penalties, which could have raised fears of a demotion in the ranking. But they ensured an impeccable rotation which opened the way to the podium.
When the result was announced, they exploded with joy, jumping onto the competition stage with the French flag. Three of them will still have chances of individual medals during the week, Mélanie “DJDS” participating in the all-around final, Coline Devillard in the vault final and Lorette Charpy in the uneven bars final.
The victory of the Americans also gives Simone Biles, back at the high level after two years off, her 26th world medal and her 20th title, a new record.