Soccer. “For France, visualizing gold is just normal,” says Thierry Henry about the Olympic Games

Thierry Henry. MAXPPP – John Walton

Six months before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the coach of the French Olympic team Thierry Henry affirms, in an interview with AFP, that "visualizing gold, it's just normal" despite the few "certainties" which he has on the contours of his group.

After a first part of your mandate monopolized by the Euro 2025 qualifications, are you now totally focused on the Olympic Games ?

Yes totally, because they will arrive very quickly. There are the first preparation matches in March. I have a lot of possibilities and very few certainties. This is inherent to the Hopes category that I manage. This is why the first thing I did when I was appointed was to pay tribute to my predecessor (Sylvain Ripoll, Editor's note). In Espoirs, from one match to the next, we don't know who we can count on. Who could have guessed a year ago that Warren Zaire-Emery would be in A ? To keep a thread, it's not easy. This is even more true when preparing for the Olympic Games which, as you know, do not fit into the Fifa dates. We are then at the mercy of the clubs' desire to release their players or not.

"Tu penses Jeux Olympiques, tu penses c'est en France, donc l'objectif, c'est l'Or !" 🥇

Thierry Henry parle à @BixeLizarazu de son objectif, clair et précis, pour les JO en France l'été prochain (@BarniaudSeb) pic.twitter.com/Sp5AIo06av

— Téléfoot (@telefoot_TF1) September 10, 2023

Have you already spoken to the clubs to convince them to release the players you would like to select ?

Yes, we had meetings with the French clubs. It went very well, we looked for common ground so that the players could find each other in the best conditions. Clubs and presidents have been receptive, but the problem will certainly arise with foreign clubs. Why they would release their players? And it's not just that. I don't know who I will select yet, but let's say I want a player and his current club accepts. If he is transferred during the summer, who tells me his new club will want to release him ?

How do you plan to go about it?

We must give a very broad list to the IOC in March. We will have to target. We want to have the best possible team, but there are lots of parameters that we cannot control. There are the players at the end of their contract, those who will play in the Euro, knowing that we do not know the list for the Euro either. There is also the case of the four reservists. How to get certain players to make the number, knowing that if there are medals at the end, it won't be for them.

Thierry Henry. MAXPPP – John Walton

There is also the emblematic case of Kylian Mbappé…

Kylian has a special place everywhere. But between wanting and being able there is a difference. I don't know where he will end up (next summer, Editor's note) but the club will have a say. I haven't contacted him about this yet. I've already had quite a few players but I wanted to let the holidays pass for others. I surveyed some people, it also helps us move forward and see what we can do.

Despite all the constraints, there is still excitement?

Yes excitement, craze. I hope it will be something extraordinary. But I don't want to project too much either. These are the Olympics, it's rare to have them twice in 100 years. Being part of this with the staff, the team, it's still exciting even if there are a lot of uncertainties."

🔥 @kmbappe aux JO @Paris2024 ?

📺⏯ https://t.co/Aax9sDvDAF #EnvoyéSpécial #Mbappé @kmbappe @EliseLucet pic.twitter.com/A7RMga8Zr6

— Envoyé spécial (@EnvoyeSpecial) January 18, 2024

There will be a lot of pressure…

Me, the team, everyone will be expected. We haven't won since 1984. We've been waiting for a long time. We're in France, it's just normal for me. But it's not always easy to win at home, to transform this pressure into a positive emotion.

What exactly is the objective set for the Olympic Games ?

It's France. Visualizing gold is just normal. Getting there is another debate. How? That's another debate. If you enter a competition at home with material and you don't visualize gold, you won't be able to get there. This is what Aimé Jacquet put in our heads in 1998.