Giroud basketball player, Savanier judoka, Ripart table tennis player: Bernard Blaquart, former coach of Nîmes Olympique is doing his own Olympic Games!

Bernard Blaquart s’est amusé à faire ses propres J-O pour le Midi Libre.

As everyone is (already) nostalgic, Bernard Blaquart had fun giving his list of athletes for the Olympic Games, made up of players he has worked alongside or trained. The former coach of Nîmes has humorously created a new Olympic village. Gold medal assured ?

 

Swimming ?

Footballers are not very good swimmers. I would put Zié Diabaté, who played left back for one season at Nîmes. He didn't know how to swim at the time. We had him diving during a pre-season (laughs) and he was proud of it that evening! So this would be an opportunity to see his progress!

Table tennis ?

Unlike swimming, footballers love table tennis. They play it very often among themselves. I'm going to quote him a lot, but Renaud Ripart was very good.

Rugby 7s ?

Here, I need a strong guy. I'm going to take Philippe Bergerôo, the former goalkeeper of the Girondins de Bordeaux with whom I played. He's a Basque, who loves and played rugby. He could have been quite good.

Judo ?

Téji Savanier! I'll also take him for boxing or taekwondo. In fact, I think he'd do well in all combat sports.

Tennis ?

Renaud Ripart plays very well, but if he already has the table tennis competition, I'd put Mathieu Michel. Because one day, we had a match between the staff and a doublet composed of Mathieu Michel and Gauthier Gallon. He wasn't bad!

Kayak ?

During a pre-season, we went rafting (a sport that involves going down rapid rivers in a raft, editor's note). I only remember the worst ones. I'll mention Sada Thioub who was catastrophic, he was going around in circles with his canoe (laughs).

Basketball ?

I need a big one! So I would take Olivier Giroud. He is a boy I had at the Grenoble training center. If he is as skillful with his hands as his feet, it could be something.

Decathlon ?

You have to be versatile and good at a lot of disciplines so I would say Renaud Ripart, if he has recovered from the table tennis competition (laughs).

Pétanque ?

This sport was not in Paris and I find that really unfortunate, it was the perfect edition to integrate it. The events could have taken place in a magnificent site, with more and more countries playing it. I will leave with an unbeatable pair: Savanier-Briançon. I have known good pétanque players, but both were very strong, they could be in Los Angeles if pétanque makes its debut. I played a little but I wasn't at the level of this pair (laughs).

For Bernard Blaquart, Anthony Briançon and Téji Savanier were unbeatable at pétanque when they played in Nîmes. Midi Libre – Noa Roche

Climbing ?

For the joke, I would take Savanier, he is afraid of heights!

400 meters ?

I would take another player with whom I played in Bordeaux: Jean-Christophe Thouvenel. What an arrow! He played full-back and ran very fast. By the way, he was part of the French Olympic team that won a gold medal in Los Angeles in 1984. 

And for the 100 meters ?

So for this event, I would take… Bernard Blaquart ! In my youth, I also ran very fast !