Heady times for the headline-making Les Bleues

NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen’s Women’s Basketball Worldwide) - On the face of it, France seems well set to kick on from their terrific silver medal at the Olympic Games and go on to enjoy another wonderful couple of years fighting for the podium.

After all, being hosts of EuroBasket Women next summer gives them a superb opportunity to gain a third successive major tournament medal and perhaps even land another Euro gold – just as they did when they last hosted the event back in 2001.

This would of course also give them huge momentum to take into their next potential global challenge at the FIBA World Championship Women in Turkey during 2014 when they will again be expected to perform to a high level.

With Pierre Vincent back at the helm, the play-caller now has a new focus. His previous destination was unashamedly London, but this time, it’s whatever the next major tournament is - and thankfully, there’s plenty on the horizon for him and his team to get their teeth into.

Crucially, he must now re-energise his players and maintain their hunger. An Olympic silver medal can’t be the high point – he must insist there is still more to come. He must also get them to deliver against heightened expectation which could be a potential burden.

Still, this danger could be wiped out if there is a confident swagger in the step of players who could, and should, firmly believe more podium finishes are around the corner. That is if they keep working hard, don’t take things for granted and don’t heap too much responsibility onto the shoulders of their supremely talented kingpin, Celine Dumerc.

Interestingly, this isn’t just about trying to maintain an impressive medal streak.

This is about women’s basketball in France capitalising on a dramatic surge in interest because of the London Games. For make no mistake, the Olympic accomplishments of the summer actually permeated the mainstream sports media and now, the exploits of Dumerc and Co look set to inspire more fans and players in the future after the nation took Les Bleues to their hearts.

Unsurprisingly, the French Basketball Federation (FFBB) is revelling in what is proving to be the ideal build-up to EuroBasket Women. And, last week, they released a documentary movie all about the team and its’ achievements in London.

Entitled ‘Les Braqueuses - medailles d'argent’ or loosely translated as “The robbers - silver medallists’, it has had a big response from the public and this will only serve to perpetuate a boom-time for the sport according to Leslie Anderson of www.womensbasketball-in-france.com (WBBIF), who dedicates his time to the promotion of women’s basketball in the country.

He said: “Once Celine Dumerc hit those three-pointers against Great Britain, the French women’s team became a legend and their new nickname 'Les Braqueuses’, also became a household name. Meanwhile the FFBB who had obviously been promoting mainly the men's Olympic team, got just the kind of publicity they wanted.

“The moment French television decide to broadcast more of the French women’s basketball team in action rather than other events with French athletes, WBBIF was bombarded with requests for people wanting to buy tickets for EuroBasket Women 2013.

“Their reasons were they wanted to see Celine Dumerc and ‘Les Braqueses play’,  but they did not necessarily understand what television commentator and former national team star Yannick Souvré was talking about in respect of the event.”

“Yes, from those Dumerc moments onwards, women’s basketball fever really did hit France” he insisted.

“The promotion of women's team sports increases at big events. Women's football and women's handball in France has always been more popular than women's basketball.

“But, due to ‘Les Braqueuses’ winning both the Quarter-Final and Semi-Final at the Olympic Games, basketball has changed its status.

“The documentary is being used as an effective tool to market French basketball and although memories are short, the FFBB have enough material to present over the next few months that should help in keeping the interest for EuroBasket Women high for all the teams participating.

“I mean just look what happened on the opening day of ticket sales, there were sell-outs for the first time in the history of the tournament.”

It’s tough to disagree with this assessment. The women's national team captured the imagination of the public in France and that is a relatively rare thing for women’s basketball in any nation.

The fly in the ointment may well be that the memory of the public can indeed be very short and therefore the onus will be on the Federation to continue marketing and promoting their players in a robust and imaginative fashion.

‘Les Braqueuses’ is a great start and now they have me wondering if there will be a sequel?

Paul Nilsen

FIBA

FIBA’s columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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