Analysis of France-Germany at the Paris 2024 Olympics: a coach in dire straits, Mem’s blunder and one too many Karabatics

Les Bleus were eliminated in the quarter-finals of their 2024 Paris Olympics. MAXPPP – ALEX PLAVEVSKI

Dika Mem's failure, the choices of coach Guillaume Gille, the management… many questions arise after the elimination of the French handball team in the quarter-finals of its 2024 Paris Olympics, Wednesday August 7 against Germany (35-34).

This is certainly the year in which they have had the best preparation in their history, apart from perhaps 1992, before the Barcelona Games, when the Blues failed in a big way. They had reached four consecutive Olympic finals and won three gold medals (2008, 2012 and 2021).

By floundering in the semolina four seconds from the end of regulation time, Dika Mem is the first person responsible for this fiasco. The Barcelona full-back will probably blame himself for many years to come. It's heavy enough to bear without adding to it.

This morning, seven months after a European title, other questions arise. In particular about the management of this team. The last timeout tells almost everything about the difficulties encountered. On one side, a coach who tries in vain to set up a final phase of play. On the other, his key player (Mem) who decides everything and ultimately nothing. You know the rest.

Gille under fire from critics 

Like Claude Onesta in his time, Guillaume Gille gives a lot of latitude to his basic men. To the point of sometimes giving the impression of being useless. With her gravelly voice, Onesta never let the blur settle in.

It was him first and then the troops. The Toulouse coach summed up the situation in one sentence: “You have to let the players believe that they are the ones who decide”. With Guillaume Gille, we are not quite there anymore.

Karabatic's jubilee

Finally, there are the coach's choices. By offering Nikola Karabatic a jubilee in world television, the technician has undoubtedly deprived himself of an essential element on the back base. For his entire body of work, we would probably have made the same choice. But it was a mistake. The best player in history leaves the stage, at 40 years old, at the worst possible time. Humiliation as a tribute.

The absence of Kentin Mahé or the sidelining of Aymeric Minne and Nicolas Tournat before a recall without a future – you saw them play on Wednesday – raise questions. For reasons that those concerned will surely take the time to unpack, Nedim Remili and Luka Karabatic, already a shadow of their former selves all season, missed out on their tournament.

Handicapped by their individualities, the Blues could (should) have counted on their collective. We are still looking for it. Four seconds later, there would have been no debate. Today, as Nikola Karabatic, Vincent Gérard and Valentin Porte retire, it is inevitable.